Vivendi, the parent company of World of Warcraft maker, Blizzard (and a major stakeholder in Activision Blizzard) has signed a deal with Microsoft for Xbox 360 users to stream movies and watch football... in France.

The deal, which makes use of the Canal+ TV station, means that les Xbox 360 owners will be able to watch some 3,000 films, premium dramas and soaps live and on demand. They'll also be able to watch French Ligue 1 soccer games; that's the French Premiership... of football.

Says Forbes, "Microsoft and Canal Plus said they would eventually extend the partnership to other Canal Plus products as well as other Microsoft platforms. to access video on demand including more than 3,000 films, premium dramas and soaps live and subsequently on demand, and French Ligue 1 soccer games."

This deal comes a month after Xbox 360 users got BSkyB content in the UK. These two Euro snips certainly see Microsoft setting up a firm bridgehead in the war of the living room.