I just caught a blurb from some major news outlet talking about how Apple TV is trying to bring digital content into the living room. What I find so ironic is that you’ve been able to do that for awhile now with the XBox 360 and it’s Video Marketplace downloadable content.

I can’t blame the media outlets though for their ignorance, for the most part reporters in the mainstream media aren’t really known for their depth, they’re trying to stay on top of the breadth of things and the digital media download space is an ever changing landscape. The party I put most of the blame on is Microsoft itself.

I see zero marketing on the Video Marketplace, unless you actually own a 360 you might not even know that the 360 offers the ability for TV show and movie purchases. Only the gaming community seems aware of an ability that the non-gaming community would probably vastly enjoy. Even a comment on this blog shows the general perception out in the community, that the 360 is only for “hard-core gamers” and if you just want a casual gaming or media experience you should get a Wii or Apple TV.

I know that Microsoft is used to letting it’s OEMs do it’s marketing for it’s hardware but considering that Microsoft actually owns this bit of hardware you’d think they’d be stepping up their efforts to showcase everything the 360 can do.