In what has been a wholly US based programme, the Zune Marketplace and its portable player the Zune has been steadily growing in both content and fanbase, and whilst the player is still as yet a US only item, the online store will soon be heading to a 360 near you.

The Guardian is reporting that the Marketplace will be made available in the UK, France, Italy, Germany & Spain shortly, with more territories to follow. The Marketplace will offer music, TV & movie content, expanding on the service already offered by Xbox Live.

Instant streaming, and full download rental and purchase will be a few of the ways that the content could be accessed.

Chris Stevenson, Microsoft's General Manager of Consumer Marketing for TV, Video and Music Business spoke to Guardian Tech journalist Keith Stuart yesterday;

"Xbox as a platform is broadening its audience, growing beyond games into living room entertainment, that's what's driven the prioritisation of an enhanced Zune video service to Xbox… It's about changing the way people think about entertainment."

Along with the content, the Zune Marketplace offers a rich social community which allows sharing and discovery of new content, similar in style to blip.fm or Last.fm, although whether these will feature in the 360 service is not known as yet.

You can read the full article over at http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2009/may/27/microsoft-zune-marketplace