Microsoft, AT&T U-Verse inch closer to integration

The Xbox could be about to morph into a set-top box.  

After an extended testing period, Microsoft and AT&T appear to be closer to finally integrating the phone company’s U-Verse cable service into the Xbox 360 – letting players watch programming directly through their game machine.

Screenshots of a U-Verse tech support database posted at Engadget seem to indicate that the service is being tested internally and the site claims a wider roll-out could be just months away.

The mash-up would let U-Verse subscribers use the 360 as a sling-box of sorts, funneling television programming through the console as a remote set-top box. They would need to have an actual U-Verse STB somewhere in the home, but the signal could be relayed through the Xbox, letting people in other rooms watch other channels – and even schedule DVR recordings of shows.

Microsoft first dropped word that it would be adding the integrated service at its keynote during this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. There are still plenty of questions about the service, though, including whether AT&T will charge subscribers extra to use it and the extent of the offerings. But it looks like we finally might be getting some answers in the coming months.