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Xbox OneGuide to be switched off, ending Xbox One's TV dream

Change of tuner.

Tom Phillips avatar
News by Tom Phillips Editor-in-Chief
Updated on
63 comments

TV, TV, TV. Xbox One launched in a terrible state, with a half-finished dashboard, flaky Kinect controls and nebulous plans to make TV programs.

Part of its positioning as the "one" device you'd need connected to your telly was its ability to act as a TV pass-through, so you could hook up your cable box or your USB TV tuner.

Microsoft announces a TV show which still hasn't aired, eight years ago.Watch on YouTube

Thankfully, all of that went away very quickly, along with many of the Microsoft execs who thought it was a good idea. But one element has remained until now: OneGuide, Xbox One's TV listings app.

This, finally, will also go away in May. No longer will your Xbox provide you with details on the next episode of Family Guy to be broadcast.

"Based on customer usage and feedback, we're constantly evolving the Xbox experience. To that end, beginning this May we'll be sunsetting live TV listings for OneGuide on Xbox One," Microsoft's Jonathan Hildebrandt wrote in a new blog post.

"You can continue to use OneGuide to view your connected HDMI devices or USB TV tuner. You can also keep using OneGuide for HDMI-passthrough and to watch TV via USB TV tuners, but you won't be able to access the on-screen TV Listings guide."

Remember watching TV's new nerd sitcom The Big Bang Theory?

That's not to say Microsoft has now given up on TV completely. After nearly 10 years of development - ever since that Xbox One launch, really - the long-awaited Halo TV series will finally debut next year in Q1 2022.

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