After the Microsoft Store lost its Music section last year, one has to wonder if Microsoft’s Movies & TV Service still remains a priority for the company. The Microsoft Store remains the only option for purchasing digital movies and TV shows on the Xbox One today, so it’s hard to imagine Microsoft ever abandoning it.
On the other hand, it’s a bit hard to recommend Microsoft’s Movies & TV today. First of all, the service isn’t available on the web, iOS, and Android, and making it exclusive to Windows 10 devices isn’t exactly consumer-friendly.
Moreover, the service doesn’t support Disney’s Movie Anywhere initiative. For those unfamiliar, Movies Anywhere is both a digital store for Disney, Warner Bros, Universal, Sony Pictures, and Twentieth Century Fox movies, but also a digital locker that centralizes all eligible movies purchases from participating services.
As of today, Movie Anywhere can connect to iTunes, Google Play, Amazon or Vudu, but Microsoft’s Movies & TV service isn’t supported. This is definitely a missed opportunity for Microsoft, but fortunately, the company seems to be aware of it. “Microsoft is committed to delivering rich entertainment experiences to our customers,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Thurrott.com. “And we’re in discussions with Movies Anywhere about bringing their service onboard.”
It’s good to know that Microsoft is in talks with Disney, and hopefully, consumers who purchased Movies and TV shows in the Microsoft will soon be able to import them into Movies Anywhere. Disney’s platform is free to use and is available on iOS, Android, Chromecast, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Roku products. With the service being available on so many platforms, it would be a great solution for the limited availability of Microsoft’s Movies & TV app.
