MSN TV

MSN TV was the name of both a thin client which used a television for display, and the online service supporting it. The product and service was developed by WebTV Networks, Inc., a company purchased by Microsoft Corporation and absorbed into MSN. While most thin clients developed in the mid-1990s were positioned as diskless workstations for corporate intranets, WebTV was positioned as a consumer device for web access. The WebTV product is an adapter that allows a television set to be connected to the Internet, primarily for web browsing and e-mail. The setup includes a web browser, a corded or wireless keyboard and a connection, using a modem, ADSL, cable Internet access, or power line communication. While WebTV did not allow as much functionality as a computer-based web browser, it was a low-cost alternative to a traditional computer connection to the Internet. On July 1, 2013, an email was sent out to customers that the service would be shutting down on September 30, 2013, and customer service would be available until January 15, 2014.