MSN TV
WebTV
WebTV put email and the web on ordinary television sets before home computers were universal; Microsoft kept the subscription alive long after the idea's peak, then switched it off.
Quick facts
- Existence state
- Officially Gone
- Peak stage
- general availability
- Research confidence
- high
- Last verified
What it was
A formally released television-based internet access service and set-top-box platform acquired and later renamed by Microsoft.
Subscribers browsed simplified web pages, exchanged email and stored favourites using a television, remote control and dial-up or broadband box.
Existence timeline
Set-top boxes bring internet services to televisions.
The platform joins Microsoft's consumer services.
Microsoft integrates the service with MSN.
Broadband hardware modernises the living-room system.
Subscribers receive migration instructions.
The original network and subscriptions end.
Why it ended
Microsoft closed the remaining U.S. MSN TV service on 30 September 2013 and migrated email users toward Outlook.
Last confirmed trace
Retail hardware, service discs, protocol research, archived pages and Microsoft announcements preserve the platform.
What it left behind
WebTV anticipated connected televisions and appliance-style internet access years before smart TVs became routine.
How we classified it
The archive unit reached normal public release or operation and is no longer obtainable in its original public form.
Verified normal public availability maps to 100 under Arrival Score V1.
Sources & verification
Last reviewed 2026-08-01. Sources are linked so readers can inspect the evidence directly.