Why would Microsoft, a software company, hire a veteran TV executive from CBS? Well, there is that huge content delivery platform it's sitting on.
The largest tech firms have all kinds of unusual positions beyond engineering and marketing. Intel, for example, famously hired more than 100 anthropologists and put the head of that group in a series of 2010 commercials.
Now Microsoft has made an unusual new hire: a former CBS executive who helped develop TV series including “Survivor,” “C.S.I.,” and “Two and a Half Men.” Nancy Tellem will oversee the creation of original video content that will be available through Microsoft’s Xbox Live platform as well as through other Microsoft networks on Windows/Windows Phone devices.
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The LA Times reports that Microsoft built its own studio in Los Angeles and signed up existing studios to create new content for the Xbox network. Tellem told the Times that she hopes to make “premium content” that can compete with current shows airing on broadcast and cable networks.
Considering we have drivel like “Honey Boo Boo” and “Jersey Shore,” that shouldn’t be too hard. Tellem did not say whether the video content will be free, on a subscription basis, or as pay-per-view.
The Xbox 360 is the perfect platform. You’re talking approximately 67 million consoles and 40 million Xbox Live subscribers. Even if you allow for 15% of Xboxes being out of commission due to the Red Ring of Death bug and other problems, it’s still a huge installed base.
Xbox Live has already been proven as a delivery platform for Netflix, Hulu, iHeartRadio, Xfinity, Vevo and Skype. You know that will transfer over when the Xbox 720, or whatever it’s called, ships in the next year or so. And if this is made available on all Windows/Windows Phone 8 devices, the platform grows exponentially.
The question is what we get. I know a little about the economics of TV and I seriously doubt we will get “C.S.I.” or “NCIS”-caliber shows. They cost way too much to make, and even with 40 million Xbox Live subscribers there’s no guarantee they will show up.
Still, it could work. Remember what happened the last time a computer industry firm got involved with Hollywood?
