Xbox users in Canada and the US can now watch live TV with Microsoft’s new over the air TV tuner. The tuner, made by Hauppauge, a US firm that manufactures electronic video hardware for personal computers, will set you back $59.99 (although you must also buy the antenna, so make it $99.99 offered as a package). You can pick up your telly-watching tuner and antenna in the Microsoft Store today.

The ‘Hauppauge Digital TV Tuner for Xbox One’ will allow to watch local TV channels (check out what’s available in your area here), pause live TV for up to 30 minutes and surf the channels with Kinect voice commands. You can even stay focused on whatever you’re watching while you’re playing Xbox games – if you can handle that much information – by opening a window on the right side of the screen. If you (will) have Windows 10 running on other devices, or have the Xbox One SmartGlass app on Windows, iOS, Windows Phone, and Android, you can stream the TV there – even while someone is playing games on your console. In spite of rumors earlier this month, there has yet been no news of Xbox One having recording features. If your using on-demand apps, such as Netflix, or stream live content via your Xbox, those options will work at the same time as your local TV without the need to switch inputs.

Apparently this was one of the most requested features from consumers, as Larry Hryb, Xbox Live’s Major Nelson, says in the tutorial video you’ll need to watch for setting up the tuner and antenna. The OTA tuner, however, if signed-up to Microsoft’s Xbox One Digital TV Tuner preview program, is already available in Australia and another 11 European nations. It seems Americans – the second (behind the UK) most addicted to TV nationality in the world – were left behind somewhat on this development. Canadians, by the way, have a lot of catching up to do in terms of how many hours they dedicate to the TV.

Photo credit: Major Nelson