According to Jeff Ross, executive producer of Conan O’Brien’s Conan show on TBS, Microsoft has some big plans for Xbox Live and streaming television.
While the talks never got too far, Ross says Microsoft approached Conan’s team with plans for original content. Ultimately, Conan and company had to pass, with Ross calling it a “leap of faith.”
“The Xbox thing,” Ross tells Gamasutra, “a lot of the conversations were ‘well, it’s a show, but it’s not a show and there are no breaks, but maybe there are breaks and it’s not 60 minutes, it’s this’ and nobody really knew what it was.”
“You meet with these guys and they show you all this stuff that they’re developing and it’s mind blowing,” Ross added. “I think it’s coming and it’s big. It’s just that we weren’t in a position at that point to figure out what it was.”
There have been rumblings of Microsoft wooing several companies to acquire content for a pay-television service that would stream through the Xbox 360 console. Would original programming like something from a big name like Conan O’Brien make you think about cutting the cord from your current cable provider?
Behind The Scenes: Microsoft’s Attempt to Woo Conan O’Brien For Xbox Live [Gamasutra]
Published: Feb 7, 2011 12:20 pm