Jordan Levin, who helped launch the WB network nearly two decades ago, is ready to help launch Microsoft’s first foray into original programming,
Variety has confirmed.
Levin is in final talks to join
Xbox Entertainment Studios as executive VP and second in command under former CBS chief
Nancy Tellem, who joined Microsoft as the division’s president in 2012.
In his new role at the Santa Monica, Calif.-based studio, Levin would work closely with Tellem to oversee the types of original programming that Microsoft would produce for its
Xbox Live platform, available through its Xbox 360 and
Xbox One video game consoles and mobile devices. Service has over 50 million subscribers worldwide.
So far, projects that have been announced include a series based on Xbox’s hit “Halo” franchise that Steven Spielberg will produce, as well as reality or documentary fare like the Mandalay Sports Media-produced soccer series “Every Street United;” a project from Lightbox filmmakers Simon Chinn (“Man on a Wire”) and Jonathan Chinn (“American High”); and “Street Dreams,” a half-hour series loosely based on the life of hip hop artist Nas.