There wasn't a whole lot of details flapping around when Robbie Bach announced that British Telecom would be the first company to team up with Microsoft to offer consumers an Xbox 360 set-top IPTV box.

Fortunately the BBC was able to squeeze some details about the box out of British Telecom. Chief among them is the fact that despite rumors, and our fervent desires, the box will not be able to receive or record live television. Boo!

The service actually sounds like a more robust version of the Video Marketplace Microsoft already offers on the box.

As well as access to BT's library of on-demand content, users will also be able to watch hundreds of movies and other digital content, including its near-live FA premier League football matches. ... "The reason for streaming only on the Xbox is because currently the console does not have the capability for live TV or enough hard drive for practical downloading of content," explained a BT spokesman.

Well that sucks.

Xbox will host BT's TV service [BBC]

British Telecom will be the first cable provider to allow you to buy an Xbox 360 that can be used as a set-top box for IPTV, Robbie Bach announced tonight during Bill Gates' CES keynote. Gates first announced his plans to try and roll out the Xbox 360 as a set-top box at last year's CES. No word on what else might be inside this IPTV 360, like say a DVR. Sounds like the rumor was sort of half right.

To check out more of what Gates and Co are talking about during the keynote make sure to check out our liveblog from CES.