WebTV Internet Access Moving to MSN

Microsoft will fold its WebTV Internet access service into MSN in order to compete more effectively against AOLTV, streamline its business by consolidating separate Internet access services, and increase traffic to MSN. The move will reduce the prominence of the WebTV brand name, and signals a shift in focus for Microsoft’s enhanced TV services, away from Internet-TV convergence and toward “better TV” features.

A Single Internet Service Provider

The WebTV Internet access service is used not only by WebTV Classic (the original WebTV product, which offered basic Internet access from a TV set), but also by more recent offerings, including WebTV Plus (which added interactive TV features) and the brand new UltimateTV.

According to information from an internal memo made public by Net4TV, a publication covering the interactive TV business space, and subsequently confirmed by Microsoft, the company is effectively eliminating the WebTV Internet access service as a stand-alone unit. By the end of 2001, all aspects of Microsoft’s Internet-on-TV (IonTV) services, from billing to infrastructure, will be handled by MSN Internet Access. The IonTV services will also be rebranded—one possible name is “MSN Internet for TV”—and the term WebTV will be less prominent in overall marketing and packaging, probably referring only to the WebTV set-top boxes themselves.