Family Guy represents the first Fox product to make it onto Xbox, which lacks an overall deal with the News Corp.-owned studio. In
"This is our first one," said Jamie McCabe, executive vice president at 20th Century Fox. "We hope to have other content on there, but right now with the launch of Halo 3 and the launch of the new season of Family Guy coming out, the timing really worked well for this one."
Noting the popularity of Family among males aged 18 to 34--which also happens to be the sweet spot for the gaming industry--he added, "It's about as perfect a demographic fit as we can get."
Xbox 360 owners will be able to purchase each of the episodes from the first two seasons as well as the straight-to-DVD film Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story for 160 Microsoft points, or about $2, which is comparable with the pricing of TV episodes on iTunes and other VOD platforms.
In addition to being its initial foray into Xbox, this also is first time the Seth MacFarlane-created series about the irreverent Griffin clan has been available for downloads on any platform, McCabe said.
Along with the debut of new episodes of the show, Fox also is set to release the Family Guy Season Five DVD on September 18, but McCabe said there is little concern that the Xbox downloads will impact those sales.
"It's a different market and a different consumer," he said. "Family has been a phenomenon on DVD, and that audience will continue to buy it."
Since its formal launch as a provider of movies and TV content in November, Microsoft has aggressively built out the Xbox content offerings as it looks to position the Xbox 360 console as the home-entertainment hub for the living room. Among the content providers for the Live service are Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney, New Line Cinema, Lions Gate Entertainment, Miramax Film, MTV Networks, Turner Broadcasting and the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
"It's a great interface, and they're definitely doing all they can to support this content," McCabe said.
