Richard Irving, an 18-year-old Microsoft veteran who most recently worked on the Xbox One’s major dashboard interface overhaul, has left the company to join streaming site Hulu.
According to Variety, Irving will lead Hulu’s "long-term product strategy." He joins the streaming platform ahead of its "skinny bundle" pay-TV rollout scheduled for 2017.
Irving’s official title at Hulu is VP of product management. He’ll report to Hulu senior VP Ben Smith, a former Xbox manager who came in Hulu last fall.
"Irving will be responsible for managing Hulu’s long-term product strategy, including establishing product team goals, aligning cross-team efforts, and fostering growth and innovation in all areas of product management for Hulu’s subscription VOD and livestreaming offerings," according to Variety.
Hulu’s "skinny bundle" TV subscription service, which was officially announced in May, will stream some cable and network shows live instead of sometime later. Go to GameSpot sister site CNET for a more detailed breakdown on what this is all about.
According to Irving’s LinkedIn page, he also worked on the Xbox 360‘s New Xbox Experience update, as well as Kinect. Perhaps more relevant to his new gig at Hulu, he also contributed to the Xbox One’s live TV efforts in his role at group program manager for incubation. In this position, he also worked on Microsoft’s augmented/virtual reality headset, HoloLens.
Live TV was a major point of focus for the Xbox One at its launch. More recently, however, Microsoft said it was putting its plans for a live TV DVR service through Xbox One on hold.
Source: GameSpot
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