Xbox Live getting its first exclusive content

Xbox Live Video Marketplace already has feature films, TV shows, and Internet shorts, but everything there has always aired somewhere else first.

But later this year it’ll be getting its first premiere. Safran Digital, the division of producer Peter Safran’s company that does… guess what?... has struck a deal with Microsoft to premiere some short form programming on Xbox Live later this year.

They’re not yet ready to talk about what the content will be or who’s making it, though I would expect some of Safran’s clients like Nia Vardolos, “Epic/Date Movie” guys Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, or P. Diddy might be involved.

Jake Zim, the former Fox Atomic exec who is now COO of Safran Digital (and, I should admit, someone I know outside of journalistic reporting) would only say that the content will be under 10 minutes and in the kind of genres we can expect the young men who primarily populate Xbox Live to most consume, like comedy and horror. And no, none of it will be stuff that’s actually about video games. Perhaps that’s a little too on the nose.

There are lots of places to premiere content online, of course, and Zim said Safran Digital will be making deals with several of them. But he likes premiering some content on Xbox Live because it’s an easy way to get onto the TV and it’s much easier to get your content featured and found.

“Xbox Live is actually programmed carefully,” he noted. “You’re not going to get lost in a deep sea like on the Internet.”

Up to now, all of the content on Xbox Live has been pay-per-download, with the exception of some sponsored promotions. But the Safran Digital stuff may be advertiser-supported, though it’s not yet clear exactly how that will work. Microsoft execs have previously told me they’re looking at more options to allow free video downloads via advertising, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more of that even before Safran Digital’s stuff debuts.

Scott Nocas, Xbox Live’s programming marketing manager (fun title) says this is just the first programming deal he expects the company to make. And why not? You’ve got a captive audience of young men – just the types who are spending less time consuming movies and TV – so why not program to them?

In fact, way back when the Xbox 360 was launching in late 2005, I wrote about how the console’s Internet connection would let it become, essentially, a cable box for gamers. It’s coming true. Which means Microsoft – and, maybe one day soon, Sony -- is becoming a more and more powerful arbiter of what content gets put in front of a very sought-after demo.