Why didn't Microsoft include a tv tuner?

[spid]

Are there any tv tuners that are universal and work with all providers? Serious question.

If you mean universal being every country in the world then no.

 

[Tentonhammer]

Are there any tv tuners that are universal and work with all providers? Serious question.

To summarize:

• There are universal cablecard tuners out there. Newer Tivo models have them built in and there are a couple companies that make them for PC (Silicondust and Ceton) mostly for use in Windows Media Center. I use use a Silicondust HDHR3 (3 tuner cable card ethernet based) and it works great for Comcast. There are also rumors that the FCC may remove the mandate that cable companies support cc.
• This does not work with satellite as they use a different tuner/encryption system.

As you can see fairly obvious why including a tuner(s) is a bad idea. HDMI is universal across provider/location so it makes the most sense. Also, I imagine IP based TV is only going to get bigger and render the cable/satellite box even more irrelevant.