Vodafone Portugal Casa TV now available on Xbox 360

LISBON — Vodafone (London:VOD), in partnership with Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), is offering the Vodafone Casa TV digital television service on the Xbox 360 console as from tomorrow.

The exclusive launch of this service in Portugal combines, in a worldwide first, a television service (Vodafone Casa TV) with a games console (Xbox 360).

Vodafone Casa TV on Xbox 360 has all the features of the Xbox 360 including connection to the Xbox Live community, allowing users to watch TV and be connected at the same time with friends via voice or text chat or to access the leading social networks (Facebook, Twitter, MSN), enabling them, for example, while watching television, to celebrate their team’s goals with their friends, or to receive a message with an invitation to play a Xbox game.

The use of the service does not involve any additional cost on top of the Vodafone Casa TV service. Vodafone Casa TV customers can also opt to purchase the Vodafone Casa TV Xbox 360 launch pack at the promotional price of 259 euros, which includes, in addition to the software, an Xbox 360 console, an extra television remote control, 12 months’ Xbox live Gold subscription and 4 exclusive Xbox 360 games: Lego Batman, Pure, Fable 2 and Halo 3. The users who already have the Xbox 360 simply need to install the Vodafone Casa TV Xbox 360 software, priced at only 9.90 euros.

The Vodafone Casa TV service offers over 100 television channels including all the most popular channels and favourite premium channels. It has all the latest features such as High Definition image (HD) and sound (Dolby Surround ®), Digital Recorder (with up to 280 hours’ recording capacity – the highest in Portugal – and automatic recording of entire series), TV Guide, Pause TV and Videoclub with over 700 films, including big box office hits and films in HD.

The Vodafone Casa TV service also boasts various innovative services offered for the first time in Portugal: the possibility of recording programmes on any TV Box (now including Xbox 360); the ‘Passou na TV’ (‘Catch Up’) option to watch or see again some of the programmes of the past few days; and the ‘Photos and Music’ service, allowing photos and music stored on PCs to be viewed and listened to on television sets; and convergence between the customer’s television, PC and mobile phone, including the option of remote access to the TV Guide and scheduling recordings from a PC or mobile phone.

Vodafone currently offers a “Free TV until Summer” promotion which allows customers to use the basic TV service free until 30 June 2010 without any subscription or installation cost.

According to Ted Malone, Microsoft’s Director of Product Management for TV, Video & Music: “Microsoft Mediaroom for Xbox 360 enables our service provider customers to offer subscribers a single device that serves as both a fully-functional Xbox 360 gaming console and digital set-top box. In a highly competitive pay-TV market, the ability to deliver a branded service with a consistent experience across multiple screens and devices gives our Mediaroom customers a competitive advantage.”

According to António Margato, Vodafone Portugal’s Home Communications Manager: “The launch of this service – a world first – offers our customers a unique television viewing experience which further enriches our television service. With the expansion of Vodafone Casa TV to the Xbox 360, Vodafone is taking another important step towards the convergence of a growing number of devices and is reinforcing its leadership role in the development of its service.”

Prices include VAT.