The Walt Disney Co.-Microsoft negotiations could lead to live streams that would be similar to ESPN 360, which offers major and minor events via some high-speed broadband providers, the New York Times reported today.

The content is similar to what’s offered as premium packages on DirecTV, including ESPN Game Plan (college football) and ESPN Full Court (college basketball). Tennis, cricket and soccer are available on ESPN 360′s schedule as well.

The deal could lead to ESPN interactive games, the Times speculated.

The Xbox 360, with its Xbox Live marketplace, has been the leader in streaming video among the three major “living room” consoles, but Sony’s PS3 and even Wii are busy playing catch-up. Xbox Live now has an audience about the size of a minor cable network.

Microsoft has been reported in talks with most major major entertainment creators — studios and TV networks — regarding broad content deals for the Xbox 360, envisioned as a home media center.

Best to catch this “stunning visual portrayal of Earth” on the biggest screen you can find, but there’s a quick, easy and free way to see the film as June 5 dawns.

YouTube is set for a one-day-only streaming of “Home,” which was directed by French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand. (Update: The movie started streaming on schedule. YouTube’s presentation is in widescreen with the viewer option for what it calls HD.)

The production claims the title of first simultaneous online and offline premiere for a major film. The 90-minute feature is narrated by Glenn Close.

The ambitious and well-executed YouTube channel for “Home” includes the making-of extras we’ll probably see on the Blu-ray and DVD, as well as short videos about shooting locations. There’s also a stash of press conference videos. Google France worked with the producers to create five map “layers” with interactive and dynamic content.

The film is available in English, French, German and Spanish. Some international viewers are reporting messages that the stream is not available in their countries.

Director Arthus-Bertrand’s eco-friendly canned quote says, “The message in this film is incredibly important since it underscores the question of survival. It needs powerful and accessible platforms like YouTube and Google Maps to reach the largest audience.” Besson, of course, is known for visually driven movies such as “The Big Blue” and “The Fifth Element.”

“Home” also will screen in outdoor settings around the planet, such as Central Park, and on some TV networks.

Previous filmmakers debuting their works online include Michael Moore (“Sicko” on BlipTV) and Wayne Wang (“The Princess of Nebraska” on YouTube).

Netflix and Microsoft confirmed that the rental giant’s online video streaming service will be coming to Xbox Live, offering up something like 10,000 movies and TV shows. Netflix recently rolled out the instant movies service for a black box made by Roku.

You’ll have to be a Netflix subscriber and a paid-up subscriber to the Xbox LIVE Gold service, which is arguably worthwhile for gamers, anyway.

(Update 7/16: Sony also confirmed its PlayStation Network movie plans, offering PlayStation device owners to ability to move downloaded content between their PS3 and PSP.)

Microsoft, meanwhile, plastered a discontinued-item tag on its $350 Xbox 360 Pro, which now comes with a measley 20 GB of hard-drive space. The fire-sale price is $300. Replacing the Pro will be a 60 GB version, going for $350 as well. If your interest is in playing games off discs and not much more, that’s a decent $50 price break, especially since you get the HDMI output for HD TVs.There’s also the Arcade version at $280, but screw that waste of 256 megabites.

The economics of the Pro vs. Elite Xbox consoles remain basically the same, however.

If you want HDMI output and 5.1 digital audio, you have to get the Xbox HDMI accessory package, which has an OK 6-foot HDMI cable and an audio adapter. Microsoft, in character, designed the Pro console so you can’t fit a standard HDMI cable and the old Xbox 360 digital audio adapter. Unless you start cutting serious plastic. This is the rude surprise you’ll get unless the sales kid knows his stuff.

If you want the best picture and sound, that means $350 plus $50 or so for the Pro with HDMI and 5.1 digital audio.

The Elite, which has a 120 GB hard drive, includes the proper HDMI cable and audio adapter, so you’re looking at a $50 price difference for a lot more storage. People with an interest in storing games, music and downloading movies as keepers should make sure they understand that dynamic.

Does the HDMI and digital audio make all that much of a difference? The jury is out about the HDMI, but to me it looks better on, say, the new “Grand Theft Auto.” The audio, definitely, but some games are slack on the mixes. It’s like anything in video/audio — if you can afford to ensure you’re getting the best connection, do that. (Let’s skip the Monster debate today.)

The Xbox LIVE Marketplace Video Store has a well-stocked selection of films and TV shows, quite a few in high definition. The count is something like 6,000 hours of content.

If you’re buying, my advice is to suck it up and go with the Elite, the place to be if your interests include streaming and downloading video.

(Update 7/16: Sony is cutting the price of its 80GB PlayStation 3 by $100, to $400. The 40GB PS3 is hitting the showers.)

The Netflix deal, rumored and blogged since the beginning of the year, is exclusive in the games universe, at least for now. The service begins next month.

The new “Xbox experience” push toward interactivity and community, coming in the fall, allows viewers to watch, say, “Blade Runner” with their pals cross-country and comment back and forth, Microsoft says.

Here’s how the Netflix stream works, the companies said:

“From the Netflix Web site, members simply add movies and TV episodes to their individual instant Queues. Those choices will be automatically displayed on the TV screen via Xbox 360 and available to watch instantly. Once selected, movies will begin playing in as little as 30 seconds. In addition to instantly streaming movies to the TV, Xbox LIVE Gold members can fast-forward, pause and rewind, all using either their Xbox 360 Controller or Media Remote. In all, the user interface creates a highly personalized experience that puts viewers in control.”

Microsoft and Sony are now in talks about adding a Blu-ray drive to the Xbox 360, the Financial Times reported. Sony needs to make a move: The Xbox 360 console currently offers an outboard HD DVD player, a cheap plastic thing dedicated to a last-gasp format. (They’re going for about $50 now via Amazon vendors.)

Incorporating Blu-ray functionality into the Xbox 360 Elite would be a great move, strengthening the XBox’s superior video offerings. The Xbox Marketplace already has a robust download service for movies and TV shows, some in HD.

Here’s hoping the Blu-ray drive goes internal, eliminating the pain-in-the-ass aspects of plugging and unplugging an add-on unit, and finding a spot for yet another hdmi wire. Microsoft had no comment, the FT reported.

Sony Electronics U.S. president Stan Glasgow told a media dinner that he did not agree with widespread crystal-balling that has the Blu-ray format being quickly run off by video downloading. Consumers want their shiny discs, he said.

“Downloading will build over time, but this will be over a period of years,” he said.

Apple, which has focused on downloads via its iTunes store and Apple TV, also is in talks regarding Blu-ray, Glasgow said.

“It should be consumer choice; and if that’s the way they vote, that’s something we’ll have to consider,” Albert Penello, group marketing manager for Xbox hardware, said today at CES. Start considering, gentlemen and ladies of the Great Northwest.

Meanwhile, Paramount was busy today denying published reports that it was bailing on HD DVD.

“Paramount’s current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format,” Brenda Ciccone said in an e-mail to Bloomberg news wire.

The Financial Times of London reported that Paramount was ready to make the move in the wake of Warner Home Video’s decision to go Blu-ray exclusive. FT said Par had a contract clause allowing the studio to dump HD DVD if Warner left the format.

Paramount, Universal and DreamWorks Animation are the remaining HD DVD-only studios. Actually, it would be surprising if there wasn’t speculation about Paramount and Universal bailing, with the media trying to get the jump on what seems inevitable. Team HD DVD hastily canceled its dog-and-pony show at CES. Format creator Toshiba went onstage with a shaken exec. Poor guy.

Later this month, about 500 hours of content from the ABC and Disney TV networks will surface, a chunk of it in HD. Shows include your basic hot sellers: “Lost,” “Hannah Montana,” “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” Classic ABC news broadcasts and specials dating back to 1963 are in the mix as well.

The MGM films — “Rocky,” “Barbershop,” etc. — include titles from UA, which are getting a big DVD push this year. “Many” of the films in the Xbox deal will be in HD.

“The ability to offer such great content in high definition further expands Microsoft’s commitment to connected entertainment with Xbox 360,” press-released Robbie Bach, president of the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft.

The annoucement came as the Consumer Electronics Show gets under way in Vegas. Xbox’s nemesis, Sony’s PlayStation 3, got a big boost late last week as Warner Home Video went Blu-ray exclusive, instead of continuing to output titles in both formats.

Meanwhile, Britain’s BT has hooked into the Xbox Marketplace, allowing BT customers to use the 360 console to access the BT Vision service and its library of on-demand video content. BT Vision customers with an Xbox 360 console now can get BT Vision from either the console or a set-top-box.

“For the first time consumers in the U.K. will be able to experience the advantages of an advanced TV service together with the benefits of next-generation gaming,” said Dan Marks, CEO of BT Vision, live via press release. So motivated couch potatoes can watch TV, voice chat, IM and segue over to games off the same interface. Cool.

No indication that this hookup will allow frustrated Brits to beat U.S. studio delays on release of movies and TV shows there.

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 now supports video files captured in DivX and XvID. The upgrade came in a software upgrade a couple of weeks ago. “It’s not entirely perfect,” Gawker reports. “It’s 90% of the way there.” The files are best played off a disc. Those are all legal video files, right?

Forrester Research says Apple TV “will be lucky” to sell something like 400,000 units in the holiday season, which would still leave the video-transfer device well below expectations. About half of online adults are aware of the device, but only 3% intend to buy one, Forrester says. Dan Frommer of Silicon Alley Insider responded with some advice for Steve Jobs. “Despite plenty of claims to the contrary, the device still doesn’t have much serious competition,” Frommer wrote. He proposes a serious software update, HD content on the iTunes Store, DVR functionality and letting people rip DVDs to their Apple TVs/computers the same way they can transfer CDs to play on iPods.

The Marketplace promises to upload one or two ESPN/ABC college games a week, within 48 hours of the broadcast’s end. NCAA basketball is in the game plan as well.The NCAA football games all come as widescreen downloads, available in 480p (standard definition, $3) or 1080i (high definition, $4.50). They are commercial free (not even those totally acceptable ESPN house ads intrude).Why would people pay for 2-day-old games that a DVR would capture just as well, especially since ESPN almost always reruns its games? One possible reason: commercial-free HD copies for fans without HD DVRs. When your lousy directional school knocks off Michigan, it’s a keeper. The boys in Iraq might find this worth a few bucks as well.

ESPN series such as “Madden Nation” and “The Contender” are part of the program, in old-school full screen, 480p, as are the “X Games” segments. The trio of World Series of Poker downloads are a mixed bag of screen ratios and resolutions. The surfing series “Down the Barrel” came in one hour-and-a-half blast, widescreen 480 or 1080. Those shows follow the Marketplace’s pricing for other TV shows, $2 SD/$3 HD.

The downloads provide a brief video preview that’s just the first minute or so of the broadcast, cut off abruptly.

“This is a natural fit for us, as so many Xbox 360 owners are huge sports fans,” read your canned quote from Ross Honey, senior director of Microsoft’s media and entertainment group.

“We are dedicated to providing our diverse community of Xbox Live users the premium entertainment content they want, and partnering with ESPN is a great example of our continued dedication in the video-on-demand space, especially in high-definition.”

The BBC and Microsoft are in talks for the British pubcaster to offer video on the Xbox Live Video Marketplace.

“We are working diligently on multiple fronts to make it happen,” said Ross Honey, senior director for media at Microsoft’s content and partner strategy group. “The BBC is a great content provider.” His comments appeared in the Sunday Times.

The BBC’s “Planet Earth” (pictured) has been a sensational seller in the high-definition DVD formats HD DVD and Blu-ray. BBC America, of course, has a highly engaged audience on U.S. cable.

It wasn’t clear if British audiences would be able to access the content due to U.K. restrictions linked to its public TV license fee.

Hat tip to our friends at the digital media site last100.

Here are the new prices according to a Circuit City ad cited around the Net today. Other retail ad leaks confirm the numbers.

Xbox 360 Elite: $449 ($30 cut)
Xbox Pro $349 ($50 cut)
Core $279 ($20 cut)

I’ve seen Aug. 8 and Aug. 12 as effective dates. A $20 cut also is in effect for the HD DVD standalone unit (drive), necessary for high-def on all of these machines. Check out my previous rundown of how the Xbox price cuts might affect video downloaders and home theater owners.