Sky High

Johnson moves on to the regular TV content; Are You Smarter Than a Ten Year-Old? and Ross Kemp on Gangs are given as examples of what you'll be able to access. TV will be streamed live and direct to your Xbox 360, without the need for a satellite dish, and you'll be able to watch it in full-screen.

There's an EPG that looks similar to the regular Sky+ one and pretty simple to use. You can't record programmes but you can choose from a library of content that's already been broadcast. "If I miss a TV show I wanted to watch, I can get it streamed on demand," explains Johnson. "So it's almost like the Sky service provides PVR functionality. I kind of look at this as a PVR in the sky."

Now he turns to the part of the service that will be the biggest attraction for many people - the movies. Microsoft's Video Marketplace will continue to exist, and you'll still be able to download films from it as usual. But you'll also have a library of Sky Box Office films to choose from and, again using the Sky Player as a model, buy packages which give you access to a selection of movies. For example, right now a Sky Player user could choose to watch The Incredible Hulk at no extra charge, or view Open Season 2 for just under GBP 3.50. But won't there be overlap with the Video Marketplace?

"Yes," admits Johnson. "Not to draw too many comparisons but we have the Netflix deal in the US, and you'll find movies that appear in both of those markets. It comes back to choice for the consumer; the breadth and depth of content Sky's bringing to the platform means a big win-win for us."

Under the terms of the Netflix deal, American Xbox 360 owners who pay a subscription fee can access Netflix's entire library of films via their consoles. The service has been up and running in the US since November but there's been no suggestion anything similar could be launched in Europe. Is this what we're getting instead?

"I look at this experience and I think what we're bringing to the UK is better..." says Johnson, and someone in a Microsoft bunker presses a button which makes the chip in his brain Taser his central nervous system.

"I better watch what I say. Um, we think this is unique and different from what's going on in the rest of the world. The ability to have video-on-demand, to have choices of the type of contact, to have an interactive experience around sports - it's something you can't get anywhere else."

But will we be able to demand as much video as our American friends, who can choose from more than 10,000 Netflix movies? A lady from Sky chips in: "Looking at the Sky Player online service, there are around 500 movies at any one time on-demand. What we're saying today is the service will be similar to the Sky Player service we offer now."

That's certainly a healthy number. But 500 is not as good as 10,000, is it? "I look at the frequency and how fresh the content is that's coming on Sky, and I don't think there's a better partner if we want to get relevant, up-to-date content - the latest features, the latest movies, the latest television programming," says Johnson.

Unlike with the sports offering, you won't be able to watch avatars watching movies in a virtual cinema - at least not yet. "Right now, we're really focused on sports. Of course as we look at this, group experiences are always part of it," Johnson says. "Another thing about Xbox Live is you can always start up a voice chat, whether you're playing Halo, watching a movie or just sitting in the dashboard. So that functionality will always be there."

There will also be a wait for high-definition content, if it ever arrives at all. "Right now, we're committing to bringing standard definition and DVD-quality content to the Xbox," says Johnson. "But we'll always be evaluating, based on technical limitations and consumer demand."

There are still many questions hanging over Sky's Xbox 360 deal, not least with regard to how much it's all going to cost. What if you're a Sky subscriber already? What if you don't want to commit to a monthly package, but just want to watch the odd match? How long will you be able to access content you've downloaded for? Will there be adverts involved?

The execs aren't answering any of those questions today, preferring to concentrate on seeing how many times they can squeeze the words "entertainment" and "choice" into a single sentence. But if anyone has experience of providing paid-for sports, movie and TV content, it's Sky. And if anyone knows how to build and sell to a huge online community, it's Microsoft. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship. And a profitable one; they're likely to make more than 360 pounds out of it, that's for sure.