Microsoft’s Xbox 360 fall update is due out soon, and the rumor mill is lively over the features it will include.  At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last January Microsoft promised that it would allow the Xbox 360 to have Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) features, including an online television service offering channel guides, as well as digital video recording, on-demand video, and other online features, such as iXbox Live downloads, HD-DVD support with an optional drive, and compatibility with Windows XP Media Center media streaming.

An also hoped-for feature, which Microsoft has talked about but not confirmed, is an Xbox parental control feature to limit the actual amount of time a child spends gaming on the Xbox 360.

Microsoft did confirm on Tuesday, October 30th that IPTV functionalities would not be included in the fall firmware update after a recently serviced Xbox 360 was found by its owner to contain some IPTV functionality. Microsoft indicated that the functionality was an isolated incident where the customer’s gaming console was being serviced and some features were inadvertently installed on the console. Microsoft did confirm that the 360's IPTV functionality will be a version of its Microsoft Mediaroom software, recently unveiled in June.

And it appears that IPTV will not be available to consumers by the 2007 holidays.  The latest on this is that IPTV’s functionality will be available to IPTV service providers before the end of the year.