I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but the future of television begins today. Or, at least it does if you believe Microsoft, who’s using the term to describe the new Xbox 360 upgrade that goes live today. The update brings live TV and expanded on-demand video selections to the gaming console, meaning that now you won’t need that little box beside your TV to watch HBO, Comedy Central and PBS anymore. Apparently, your viewing tastes are somewhat broad; well done, you.

Now, all you’ll need is that… other little box. Yeah, maybe it’s just me, but this particular future of television feels just a little familiar.

It’s possible that I’m setting my sights a little too high on this, of course. After all, the new Xbox 360 upgrade doesn’t just mean that your gaming system is also your cable box now. It also allows you to use Microsoft’s Bing search engine, share things online and control everything via voice or movement commands to your Kinect controller.

Which, let’s face it, is pretty cool… but, at the same time, it feels like a distraction from the fact that, in terms of streaming content, this isn’t much more than another chance to do the same old, same old. After all, the content partnerships Microsoft has for streaming television and on demand video aren’t anything new; in order to watch HBO content, you’ll still have to be an HBO subscriber—which, unless something changes in the next month before HBOGo gets added to Xbox 360, actually requires you to have a cable contract.

The same is true of Netflix and Hulu. This isn’t a case of “all of your media consolidated into one simple package and device” as much as it’s a case of “What if your computer looked and acted like your Xbox, but you had to use Bing instead of Google?” Somehow, that seems just a little less of a selling point than any talk about the “future of television.”

Mike McGuire, analyst and research VP at Gartner disagrees, telling the Hollywood Reporter that “it’s an evolutionary step for the larger ‘future of TV’ debate,” primarily because of the user experience interface:

Xbox-Kinect elevates the whole TV-interface experience to a new level…I think content companies are going to have the opportunity to develop some very interesting content experiences on top of the Kinect/Xbox Live foundation.

I’m unconvinced by this argument. It may represent a different way to get to the content, but the basics of television pretty much remain the same when compared with current digital methods of watching content, whether it’s on-demand services from cable providers, Roku boxes, Apple TVs or watching material online. Even the addition of live television, which feels like the biggest part of this particular change, really just means that your television is mimicking your cable box or satellite receiver.

The future of television is undoubtedly coming, when we can pick-and-choose which channels and/or programs we want and, more importantly, not have to pay for those we don’t want. And we’ll have all the boxes consolidated into the TV set itself–hey, Apple and Google TV, aren’t you supposed to be doing that already?

But this new Xbox 360 upgrade? It’s shiny and it’s fun, and the Kinect camera will be the Siri of remote controls for awhile (just like Kinect was for games, not too long ago). But it’s really just a nice package showcasing what’s already out there.

Not content going head-to-head with Netflix and iTunes by offering streaming video-on-demand movie rentals, YouTube is rumored to be close to announcing a $150-million plan to unveil multiple new channels of all-original content in the hopes of becoming a rival to major television networks

The project, which according to Deadline New York may be officially announced by the end of this month, is expected to “redefine” YouTube as a destination for professionally-produced content from some of television’s most respected producers in an attempt to lure more advertisers to the site.

Rumors place the number of channels around 25, with the Hollywood Reporter naming companies like Warner Bros., BermanBraun and FremantleMedia as potential partners for the project.

Other names linked include, oddly enough, skateboarder Tony Hawk, suggesting that this project may have some overlap with the idea of YouTube’s “celebrity channels” that was floated at the start of the year (In fact, the rumored budget-per-channel for both projects is the same: $5 million). The new channels are expected to go live at the start of 2012.

Apparently, cord-cutting may be real after all, according to a new study released by The Diffusion Group.

Despite countless real-world examples showing that television doesn’t seem to be negatively affected by online VoD services, Diffusion’s new study apparently finds 32% of Netflix users plan to cut down on – or cut out entirely – their cable plans as a result of the availability of streaming content, up from 16% last year.

Diffusion even feels that it can explain away the discrepancy between its findings and evidence to the contrary by saying that cutting back on cable packages isn’t cord-cutting, exactly, but cord-shaving, and therefore wouldn’t be reflected in subscription figures by cable companies.

Off-the-record, some cable execs will admit to customers switching to cheaper, less expansive packages, so perhaps this is the future of television: Smaller, reliant on DVD aftersales, but never quite going away entirely.

Well, until someone works out how to make Hulu work properly and with all of the broadcast networks’ shows appearing on a timely basis, of course.

(via All Things D)