Las Vegas - Microsoft has announced that it sold 10.4 million Xbox 360 video game consoles in 2006, and plans to launch an IPTV service for the Internet-connected device by the end of this year.

For its part, Sony said it has now shipped more than one million PlayStation 3 consoles in the U.S.

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates demonstrated the TV-over-360 service during his keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The IPTV service is expected to become available in the second half of 2006, through providers including AT&T and Bellsouth in the U.S.; BT in the U.K.; Deutsche Telekom in Germany; T-Online in France; and Swisscom in Switzerland.

Users will be able to view a picture-in-picture to see what is on the next channel, but details on other features like digital video recording were not mentioned.

Related Links:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070108/sfm086.html?.v=76
http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/01/its_official_ip.html
http://www.microsoft.com/tv
http://www.xbox.com/xbox360