New Xbox Live partnerships ...

Timed with the Xbox Elite announcement, Microsoft has announced new partners for Xbox Live.

You can read the full press release here, but let's just skip to the bulleted list of additions:

• A&E Network. "Dog the Bounty Hunter," "King of Cars," "Gene Simmons Family Jewels," "Driving Force" and "Criss Angel Mindfreak"
• ADV Films. Top offerings from the No. 1 producer-distributor of Japanese animation ("anime") outside Japan
• National Geographic. The television series "Is It Real?" and "Taboo" as well as programs such as "21 Days to Baghdad" and "Air Force One"
• TotalVid.com. A broad action-sports offering including extreme skiing and snowboarding, skateboarding, motocross, surfing and mountain biking

And, hidden in the press release:

'Also, for the first time, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will be releasing its
direct-to-video movies exclusively in high definition on Xbox LIVE simultaneous
with their availability on DVD, starting with "Sublime" and later "Babylon 5:
The Lost Tales."'

I'm a guy who tracks changing business and distribution models in media, so this last nugget is pretty telling to me. To have one of the big boys willing to do day-and-date for two separate distribution modes is a big deal (and a tacit nod to guys like Mark Cuban over HD.net).