WebTV Networks

Founded in 1995, WebTV introduced the first consumer product to enable web surfing without a computer, and later, the first true convergence products, combining Internet TV, interactive TV, digital TV, Digital Video Recording, and games into simple and inexpensive consumer electronics devices. Twenty months after it was founded, WebTV Networks was acquired by Microsoft Corporation. A financially and strategically successful acquisition, WebTV (renamed MSNTV and operated until 2013) produced over a billion dollars in revenue. The WebTV team also developed the Xbox 360 hardware and both of Microsoft's TV distribution platforms, Cable TV Foundation and IPTV. WebTV products have been sold throughout the world, retailed under license by DirecTV, Dish Network, Sony, Philips, RCA, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Samsung, Fujitsu, Sega, Scientific Atlanta, and On Command.