AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

Microsoft Lands Deals With Movie, TV Titans - The Wall Street Journal

Microsoft Corp. will get to use movies and television programming from several large entertainment companies under new deals that may help it better compete with Apple Inc.’s iTunes online service and rivals such as software maker Adobe Systems Inc.

Microsoft said it reached agreements with NBC Universal Inc., Walt Disney Co., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. and CBS Corp.’s Showtime Networks Inc. to contribute entertainment content to the software maker’s Xbox Live and MSN online services. The agreements were disclosed last night by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates during the opening of the Consumer Electronics Show, the consumer-electronics industry’s annual conference here.

Mr. Gates also said that Microsoft, of Redmond, Wash., has sold 100 million licenses for Windows Vista, the company’s year-old operating system for personal computers. Sales of Windows Vista are being closely watched by Wall Street analysts and Microsoft customers because the software, critical to Microsoft’s growth, has had middling reviews.

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