If the Sky service proves to be popular with customers, can you possibly foresee exclusive content for subscribers?

JJ: Right now we're really focussing on what we're going to be doing at launch and it's all about the user experience. I think the partnership has started off amazingly well. I've been with for twelve years now and I honestly say it's one of the strongest, most synergistic partnerships I've been able to take part in. I have no doubt that we'll continue to evaluate all sorts of different features and ways we leverage new content and experiences throughout the partnership.

The Sky service is due this autumn with pricing to be announced around the same period. Is there a ballpark figure in mind right now or is that still being discussed?

JJ: We're not discussing the commercial aspect yet. We're really just focussing on the strength of the partnership and the opportunities we have in bringing this thing together and giving you a glimpse of what users can expect.

And there's a twenty-channel line-up for launch. Is that correct?

AP: We've not announced the channel line-up yet, as you know, but we're hard at work in terms of making sure the content proposition is as great as it possibly can be.

You've announced that there will be a number of packages for subscribers to choose from. Are they the same as what you can currently get with a DTH subscription or have they been uniquely tailored for the 360 platform?

AP: In terms of being able to browse and select content, then Sky has a lot of understanding about how people like to do it and how people search on demand, so we're bringing you all that, with the understanding of how people use the Xbox user interface to navigate through content. We're bringing all this together to see what the best models for playing content are and again, through this whole process we're looking to offer customers a variety of different ways in which they can just browse through content and give them the choice of what they prefer.

The 360 controller is a fantastically intuitive device for being able to search TV content on a ten-foot interface. So, I think we're very pleased with how it's gone so far and I think that if you've worked the demo, you'll see for yourself that it's quite intuitive.

Will the process of subscribing to Sky via be the same as a DTH subscription too?

JJ: If you're familiar with the Sky Player subscription, taking a look at that is a guideline for what to expect. It's an offering to someone who might be a DTH subscriber and looking for different ways to enjoy the content they love from Sky on TV already, to users that might not already have a relationship with Sky but actually want to enjoy the content for the first time through Xbox. We believe there's going to be an offering for everyone.

AP: Yes, exactly. There's a product there both for existing Sky consumers who want to view their Sky content in different ways with different interactivity and services and there's also an opportunity for non-Sky customers with Xbox 360s to evaluate and embrace Sky if it's for them - you don't need a dish - so it could be a suitable subscription model for them.

JJ: Bringing the two offerings together really provides two things. It enables us to both reach out to new customers, while also providing existing customers to have a deeper engagement with all of our services and content.

We're wildly speculating here, but what would your reaction be if were to announce a deal with Virgin Media for to compete with the Xbox 360 Sky Player service?

JJ: My reaction would be to continue to focus on the great things we're going to be doing with Sky. I believe in the strength of the content and the quality of the service provided by Sky and we're very happy about the opportunity we've got to work with them. At the same time I also understand and respect that we've put a lot of value into what we've done from the Live service perspective in actually building a community of 20 million gamers and now those 20 million people will have the opportunity to enjoy interactive entertainment across the Live service.

I would look back at those strengths and my focus is going to be how we can continue to grow our partnership with Sky.

The service is currently only offered in standard definition. Are there any future plans to offer HD Sky content?

JJ: Our focus for now really is bringing standard definition broadcasts to the Xbox, but part of the partnership is to continually evaluate what the consumers are asking for and trying to meet their demand for choice while also living up to the expectations in delivering a quality service and quality content. We want to balance all of these things to ensure that we're bringing what our customers are asking for to the table.

Will Xbox Live's Video Marketplace continue to offer the same service for on-demand once Sky is integrated?

JJ: I think that comes down to choice again. The deal we have with Sky is to bring a very large catalogue of movies, a very large catalogue of broad entertainment, obviously and studio specific content as well as video on-demand and Live streaming, not to mention things like and news. Those things are going to be standout on our platform no matter what other content providers are available. And it all comes back to us giving you choice to view what you want on our platform and we believe Sky is the best partner we can have in this market to actually deliver on that. But video marketplace will still exist, yes.

By Richard Walker