Ethiopian Review

The Telegraph broke the story that the technology giant was planning to have a new streaming service similar to Spotify ready by the end of this month.

However, The Telegraph has now learnt that this original target deadline has not been met. A Microsoft spokesperson said: “In the coming months, MSN [Microsoft’s news and entertainment portal] is planning a new music service in beta via its [MSN] Music channel in the UK. At this stage we won’t be confirming the details behind this but more information will be available soon and will be communicated in due course.”

Not many details are known about the free advertiser funded service at this stage. Peter Bale, executive producer of MSN, revealed the bare facts in an exclusive conversation with The Telegraph: “Music is an important area for Microsoft. We are looking at launching a music streaming service imminently.

It will be a similar principle to Spotify but we are still examining how the business model will work.”

Spotify users can stream music for free in exchange for listening to around a minute of advertising every half hour but for £9.99 a month, the ads will be turned off. It is thought Microsoft’s offering will be ad-supported too as well as having a paid-for premium service.

Mr Bale added: “We are looking at how other similar businesses have structured their business models and trying to figure out what will work best for both consumer and Microsoft.”

The service would be operated and owned by Microsoft, while being promoted through MSN and other parts of the Microsoft network.

The MSN part of the business is ramping up its consumer offering, having announced the launch of MSN Video, an online TV player, earlier this week.

The video service will initially offer 300 hours of content from BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the corporation, and from major independent producer, All3Media, responsible for programmes such as Shameless and Peep Show.

The BBC Worldwide partnership is particularly interesting because it will allow viewers for the first time to watch full episodes of archive programming for free, such as What not to Wear and the Young Ones. It will be free to use because each show will carry advertising.

The video player is the brainchild of Ashley Highfield, Microsoft’s managing director and vice-president of consumer and online, and the former director of future media and technology at the BBC, who launched BBC iPlayer. Mr Highfield is in talks with other major broadcasters and content providers, such as ITV and Channel 4, about carrying their content via the service.

By Emma Barnett | telegraph