About a week ago, Bloomberg reported that Microsoft was in talks with “nearly two dozen” content providers to introduce new music, TV, and film content to Xbox Live and not happy to let Bloomberg steal their thunder, Microsoft came out days, later and confirmed the report and then some. During the week Microsoft officially announced that from the holiday season onwards, shows from 38 content partners will be available through the new Xbox 360 online service.

Among some of the biggest names announced are cable TV providers Comcast and Verizon. When the services go live, Xbox 360 users in the US will have access to more than 10,000 episodes of on-demand TV, while customers using their Verizon FiOS subscription will be able to watch 26 channels of live TV, including MTV, Spike, Food Network, Comedy Central, HBO, CNN, and Nickelodeon.US gamers are not the only ones to benefit from the announcement, UK Xbox 360 owners will be getting integration of BBC programming and LoveFilm, among others. Some of the other key additions to the slate of content partners include HBO GO, TMZ, YouTube, and UFC.

The bad news, the Zune services (which we have already) are the only content providers that have been confirmed for Ireland.

For all you mobile tech-heads, good news as Microsoft have confirmed the release of a free Xbox Companion App for Windows Mobile phones. The app will allow users to search for content on Xbox Live from their phones and cue it up on the system without needing to pick up a controller.

If we find out more about and services coming to Ireland, you’ll hear it here first but for now, check out the trailer and a full list of the partners and the regions in which their content will be available follows below.

ABC iView–Australia
AlloCiné–France, Germany, Spain, UK
Antena 3–Spain
Astral Media’s Disney XD–Canada
BBC–UK
blinkbox–UK
Bravo–US
Canal+–France, Spain
Channel 4–UK
Channel 5–UK
CinemaNow (Best Buy)–US
Comcast–US
Crackle–Australia, Canada, UK, US
Dailymotion–Available in 32 markets
EPIX–US
GolTV–Spain
HBO GO–US
Hulu–Japan
iHeartRadio (Clear Channel)–US
LOVEFiLM–Germany, UK
Manga Entertainment–US
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment/Real Sports–Canada
Mediaset–Italy
MSN with MSNBC.com–Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, UK
MUZU.TV–France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK
Rogers On Demand Online (RODO)–Canada
RTVE–Spain
SBS On Demand–Australia
Syfy–US
Telefonica–Spain
Televisa–Mexico
“The Today Show”–US
TMZ–US
UFC–Canada, US
Verizon–US
VEVO–Canada, UK, US
YouTube–Available in 22 markets
ZDF–Germany