If you used your Xbox One or Xbox 360 as a replacement cable box to access Verizon’s live television and on-demand content libraries chances are that you’re in for a very nasty shock this morning. Verizon FiOS for Xbox One and Xbox 360 stopped working this morning.
Microsoft revealed that the Verizon FiOS apps for both Xbox platforms was on its way out a few weeks ago in messages sent directly to any Xbox 360 and Xbox One owner who’d downloaded the app to their console. That message didn’t reveal why the apps were being pulled. Verizon was one of the early launch partners for the Xbox One, delivering a modern entertainment app for Microsoft’s console the holiday season it was available. That app never integrated with the OneGuide in anyway, but did work reliably for account holders.
We’re used to seeing apps disappear on the Xbox 360 at this point, with its now aging architecture. Seeing otherwise functioning Xbox One apps go the way of the United States’ national budget surplus in he late 1990s is entirely new.
Both Microsoft and Verizon are encouraging FiOS users to download the apps that each channel offers in the Xbox Store as an alternative to the dedicated Verizon FiOS app for Xbox One and Xbox 360..