Microsoft reveals Xbox One TV tuner accessory for Europe

Microsoft has revealed a dedicated TV tuner for the Xbox One, which will let anyone living in Europe add live TV and PVR capabilities to their console - even if they don't own a dedicated set-top box for passing through an HDMI signal.

Unlike in the US, where external set-top boxes are commonplace, the vast majority of TVs sold in the UK and across Europe use integrated TV tuners to access free-to-air TV - either for DVB-T2 terrestrial broadcasts, or DVB-S2 satellite feeds, otherwise known as Freeview and FreeSat in Britain. Unless you had a separate Freeview, FreeSat, Sky+, Virgin TiVo or BT YouView box, there was no way to put the Xbox One's OneGuide and Live TV features to use. That looks set to change soon when Microsoft's official USB TV tuner accessory arrives later this year.

Xbox One users in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain will be the first to receive the dongle, which plugs into the console through a single USB port and connects directly to your external aerial. It will add support for the Xbox One's many live TV features, including Snap mode viewing (for when you just can't put the game down but want to catch up on TV too), the ability to pause live TV, change channels using your voice if you have a Kinect camera attached and OneGuide on a second screen using the SmartGlass smartphone or tablet app.

The announcement, which was posted to the official Xbox Wire blog, comes ahead of the Gamescom trade show in Cologne next week. We're surprised Microsoft didn't wait until the show itself to make the announcement, but having been stung by negative public reaction to its TV announcements at E3 and during the intitial reveal of the console, it's perhaps unsurprising that it will instead concentrate on games rather than multimedia features during Tuesday's keynote address.

Microsoft has yet to commit to an exact release date, but has marked early October as a provisional date for when customers will be able to get their hands on the dongle. In the UK it will cost £24.99, or €29.99 across Europe.