Microsoft just announced Universal, and NBC Universal programming is coming to Xbox Live, delivering The Office, Monk, Battlestar Galactica, The Mummy, Bourne Supremacy and others to the service. Xbox Live Video Marketplace now claims over 10,000 movies and TV shows on the marketplace, which it says puts it as the number one HD provider. MGM and Constantin are pushing things forward in Europe, adding 700 new titles to the library starting today. Check out more details from the E3 keynote in the live blog.

Looking for all that ABC and MGM HD content on Xbox Live? You won't have to wait long, with the first three seasons of Lost up now plus the just-aired season 4 premiere (Hurley was all ZOMG!, and Benry was like Bu-bu-but...) available for purchase at 12:01 a.m. PST for 240 MS points ($3 U.S.) per episode -- just barely missing the original "later this month" promise. Due later on in February are hits like the High School Musical series and other content from the Disney Channel, and MGM's releases hit on the 18th. Mr. Brooks, the Rocky series, The Usual Suspects, Saw IV, and Michael Clayton are all coming soon in HD (if you want to call it that). Looks like someone's gearing up to take on the Apple TV, how about a price cut, or loosening up on the DRM?

While HD DVD and Blu-ray have both lost key supporters recently, Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace seems to just keep adding new content providers, this time bringing MGM and Disney-ABC Television Group to the fold. Conspicuous in that both are exclusive Blu-ray supporters, Xbox 360 owners will -- later this month -- have access to ABC hits like Lost, Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives in HD the day after they air. So far, MGM's announced just classic and catalog flicks like the Rocky series and The Usual Suspects, with "most" available in HD. Still looking for a Blu-ray add-on or built in HD DVD?

Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace keeps adding content, this time partnering with ESPN to offer commercial-free versions of NCAA football games and TV shows in HD. The games will be available within 48 hours of their conclusion for $4.50, and TV shows are $3 each. Digital distribution is continuing to pick up steam, but we're not sure how many people will pay that price for a replay of one NCAA game.

The already nicely priced Xbox 360 HD DVD player just got slashed to $179. The new US-only, retail pricing also includes 5 free HD DVD flicks when purchasing the player between August 1st and September 30th -- you know, the same time period 300 and Heroes goes on sale in HD DVD format. Unfortunately, the free titles must be made from a selection of just 15 pre-selected films which Toshiba considers "popular." Nevertheless, the $20 price cut makes the Xbox 360 HD DVD player all the more enticing as an easily hacked, USB-player for HD flicks on your PC.

Update: Xbox 360 owners will be getting downloadable treats to promote the add-on, Microsoft announced that the movie 300 will be available on Xbox Live Video Marketplace in HD starting August 14th. In a repeat of the South Park promotion earlier this year, the first episode of Heroes will be made available for free prior to the release of the boxed set on HD DVD for a limited time.

[Thanks, Andrew and PacoDG]

Microsoft's E3 conference is still ongoing, but they were more than happy to note that Xbox Live Video Marketplace has already raked in more than $125 million in revenue, and is bigger than any cable providers' VOD offerings. As if that wasn't enough, for everyone who thought Blu-ray would be their only option for Disney films in HD, Microsoft announced that it is bringing both catalog and new releases to Xbox Live, in high definition, starting tonight. Our friends outside the U.S. have something to look forward to as well, because it plans to bring the video marketplace to Canada & Europe by the end of this year. Check out the live blog for more details.

Update 1: Check out the official details after the break.

Update 2: More info from Reuters indicates 35 titles from Disney are available now, including Bridge to Terabithia, The Queen and Deja Vu, but no Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (currently available on iTunes in theaters) on the way yet.

Microsoft scored another debut of animated content moving to HD for the Xbox Live Marketplace, as it recently announced the anime classic Akira will headline the rollout of anime from distributors FUNimation and Geneon. Despite initial growing pains with slow downloads and that too-small hard drive that's so expensive to upgrade, Lions Gate recently revealed that its movies have been rented 150,000 times on the service and called it a "promising sign" for their library and digital delivery. Along with the anime, expect content from Logo and CMT to also hit the service starting Monday, although no word on what, if any, of that will be in HD.

Read - More Content Coming on Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace US [Via Joystiq]
Read - Xbox Live boosts Lions Gate revenues

Microsoft officially announced the new "Elite" edition of its Xbox 360 console tonight, and also provided info on some new content coming to fill up those 120GB hard drives. Paramount Pictures will have its movies available for download in HD for the first time, and Warner Bros. has committed to releasing its direct-to-video movies exclusively in high definition on Xbox Live. The first two titles will be Sublime and Babylon 5: The Lost Tales. Just to show that they can keep up with the Jones' (and the Sony's) in numbers, Microsoft announced that the South Park HD episode was downloaded over 380,000 times, while HD clips from 300 were downloaded more than 477,000 times. New content partners hitting the marketplace are A&E, ADV Films, National Geographic, New Line Cinema. We're still not sure about the $179 price tag of the new larger hard drive, but there should be plenty to fill it with in the days to come, even a lot of movies that have yet to see HD DVD and Blu-ray releases like Snakes on a Plane and Braveheart. However we must say that the distinct lack of HD Battlestar Galactica episodes continues to grate the nerves. Check out Joystiq for more info on the content and pricing (480 MS points/$6 for new HD movies, 360 MS points/$4.50 for "classic" films, 240 MS points/$3 for TV shows).

The Xbox Live Video Marketplace is getting some of the truly compelling content we've been waiting for, as Wired is reporting that the first high definition episode of South Park will be available for download tomorrow. At the incredibly great price of free -- for the first two weeks -- all Xbox Live members can download the "Good times with Weapons" episode. If you for some reason don't have a 360, or don't have the internet and are reading this via teletype, Best Buy will also be making the episode available on HD DVD discs free with the purchase of an Xbox 360 or the HD DVD add-on between March 20th and April 3rd. Animated TV shows have been missing in HD for too long, hopefully we'll see more of those and more HD content on XBLM -- like HD Battlestar Galactica episodes we don't have to wait 6 months to see, as suggested by our friends at Joystiq.

[Via Joystiq]

We were wondering how long it would take to get a high definition blockbuster movie onto Xbox Live Video Marketplace, and it looks like Microsoft and Major Nelson just got in under the wire for 2006, adding Superman Returns yesterday. Weighing in at 7 GB for the 720p HD version (2 GB in 480p SD... for the masochists out there) for the 154 minute movie, it's finally time to clear off some of the Xbox 360 demos we downloaded and see if digital distribution works better in 2007 than it did last year. We'll be back with our impressions of the service, now that they've posted something we want to watch on our HDTVs.

The two biggest questions since Microsoft announced its Xbox Live Video Marketplace have been: 1. does anyone still has enough space on their Xbox 360's 20GB hard drive for movie downloads in high definition? and 2. does anyone -- even the guys at Redmond -- have enough bandwidth to feed the HDTVs of millions of Xbox Live subscribers? Since launching two days ago those questions have been answered with a yes and resounding no, respectively. Users have complained of slow downloads that time out, receiving different files than the ones they requested and being charged twice when trying to complete timed-out rental downloads. Major Nelson has chimed in on the issue, letting us know that the company is aware of the problem and will refund Microsoft Points to all those who call 1-800-4MYXBOX for assistance. Good luck with that, though, as at least one person was told there aren't any managers available to refund customers until after the holiday weekend. So while network engineers and management sleep off yesterday's turkey and camp out for cheap plasmas, you may want to hold off trying to download Clash of the Titans in 720p 'till things get straightened out.

[Thanks, WiFiSpy]

Read - My Xbox 360 video rental nightmare
Read - Video Marketplace Status

Surprise, surprise, it's November 22nd (happy birthday Xbox 360!), and Microsoft has taken its new Xbox Live Video Marketplace live. The biggest mystery at this point was price, which turns out to be $2 for SD TV shows, $3 for HD, while movie rentals will run you $3 for SD and $6 for HD. This is all converted from the various, confusing MS Points involved in each purchase (80 Points = $1), which we're sure we'll all be well sick of after a couple months of using the Marketplace -- if not already. The current word on selection is 48 movies and 50 TV shows available for download, and we're sure that'll be growing -- though V for Vendetta is already available as a HD rental... what more could you want?

[Thanks, TexRob]

UPDATE: Joystiq has some more info and pics galore of the service. They clarified the pricing scheme as well: movies are divided into "New" and "Classic" releases, and priced at $6/$4 for the former, $4.50/$3 for the latter.

There are wild rumors, and there are interesting rumors, but here's a doozy for ya: Xbox Live could soon start vending HD movie content, according to one freshly minted Wordpress blog (take that for what it's worth). According to Shsibae (huh?), over 1000+ hours of video will make its way onto Live for rental at about $4 a go, or for purchase (at an unstated price). Hard to imagine Xbox 360 doing for PC-free online movie downloads what all the other companies couldn't or haven't (we're looking at you TiVo, Netflix, iTV, etc.), but then again Microsoft did start up with that Xbox Live music video download thing last year. Seriously though, what a coup would that be if Microsoft swooped in to make the Xbox 360 the premier digital content hub -- with or without HD DVD -- right underneath Sony's nose at the eve of their PlayStation 3 launch? We just hope Microsoft would have a larger drive waiting in the wings if this one turns up roses though, our 20GB is already packed to the gills with game demos.

The recap episode of Battlestar Galactica was posted on Xbox Live Marketplace yesterday and we regret to inform you it was not high definition. We're not entirely surprised at the resolution, a 720p-encoded file would have been a long download, not to mention the Xbox 360's smallish 20GB hard drive. Unfortunately it gets worse, the presentation was in widescreen, but with included bars at the top and bottom as though it were intended only for 4x3 SDTVs. Why they opted for a version that looks like it was taped off of Sci-fi network onto someone's VHS we will never know, but with the artifacting and low quality of the file we cannot recommend this to anyone in good faith. Hopefully they will do better when the episode is aired on Universal HD in September and it will be presented natively in widescreen. Oddly, despite the low quality of this file, you can download two HD clips of upcoming kids show Viva Piñata that look fantastic; hopefully future downloads will follow their lead instead of the quick and dirty approach apparently used on BSG.

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

BSG fans get ready, before the third season of Sci-Fi's series kicks off this fall, they will be following the trend of cable shows airing on network television as a recap episode The Story So Far will air on NBC's West Coast affiliates and Universal HD later this month and throughout September. The episode, covering the key events of the first two seasons of Battlestar Galactica, will also be distributed on a bonus DVD at Best Buy, and via iTunes and Xbox Live. It has been confirmed that the Xbox Live download will come in mid-september, free of charge, however they haven't commented on the size or whether it will be available in HD resolution. Either way, it looks like we'll be clearing some space off the 20GB hard drive and getting on the digital distribution bandwagon shortly.

[via Joystiq]