Microsoft And Yahoo Both Said To Be Working On New Original TV Shows

Two reports are circulating this morning indicating that Microsoft and Yahoo are both working (separately) on new original television shows that would follow the high-quality series trend set by Netfl...
Microsoft And Yahoo Both Said To Be Working On New Original TV Shows
Written by Chris Crum
  • Two reports are circulating this morning indicating that Microsoft and Yahoo are both working (separately) on new original television shows that would follow the high-quality series trend set by Netflix and followed by Amazon and others.

    Bloomberg is reporting that Microsoft’s Xbox TV studio plans to roll out new shows in June with a total of six series lined up. These include: Every Street United, Humans, Fearless, a comedy sketch show with Sarah Silverman and Michael Cera’s JASH comedy collective, a stop-motion show with Seth Green’s Stoopid Buddy Stoodios (of Robot Chicken fame) and a documentary series from the producers of Searching for Sugar Man. They’ll also reportedly offer a live broadcast of Bonnaroo. Bloomberg reports:

    Unlike the critically-lauded titles Netflix chooses by number-crunching its subscribers’ favorite actors and genres, Tellem said Microsoft’s marching orders are to focus on its gamer audience, typically males between 18 to 34 years old.

    “We aren’t trying to find something that’s going to be accepted by the largest common denominator, which is what a lot of people in the business look for,” she [Microsoft’s Nancy Tellem] said. “We’re focused on what we feel our audience on our platform wants.”

    Meanwhile, Yahoo is “close to ordering” four new web series, according to the Wall Street Journal. These are said to be 10-episode, half-hour comedies .

    Unlike Microsoft, Yahoo is not actually commenting on these plans yet.

    Image via Yahoo

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