Associated Press
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Microsoft Corp. said Tuesday it is restructuring its troubled television business and cutting more than 150 jobs from the Silicon Valley-based division.
The UltimateTV division, based at the software giant’s Mountain View campus, is being eliminated immediately as part of the reorganization, Microsoft spokeswoman Erin Brewer said.
UltimateTV service will still be offered, but of the unit’s 500 employees, two-thirds will be transferred to other divisions, Brewer said. The remaining 168 people will face layoffs if they cannot find another job within Microsoft in three months.
UltimateTV combines the Web-browsing features of Microsoft’s WebTV unit with a personal digital video recording service that allows subscribers to pause live TV and record shows onto a set-top box with a built-in hard disk. But the service, which was launched last year after some delays, failed to garner much interest beyond the 1 million customers of WebTV. It works only with DirecTV satellite television service.
"The market has been relatively slow in the uptake of these set-top boxes, but we’re not leaving that market, by any means," Brewer said. "Our commitment to TV is still strong."
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