Tellem logs on at Microsoft

Former CBS executive Nancy Tellem has landed at Microsoft, where she will head up the technology giant’s new entertainment division.

Nancy Tellem

Tellem is the former president of CBS Network Television Entertainment Group, who oversaw hits including CSI, Survivor and Everybody Loves Raymond between 2004 and 2009.

As Microsoft’s president of entertainment and digital media, she will run the company’s newly created Los Angeles production studio, which will develop interactive and linear content for Xbox and other devices.

She will also lead efforts to turn Xbox into a one-stop entertainment destination as Microsoft bids to continue the games console’s evolution into a home for television, movies, music and sports content.

Current partners include Netflix, Hulu Plus, HBO Go, MLB.tv, ESPN, YouTube and Vevo, while this month Microsoft will also launch partnerships with Sesame Workshop and National Geographic based around its Xbox Kinect motion sensor technology.

Tellem will report to Phil Spencer, corporate VP of Microsoft Studios. She was with CBS from 1997, most recently as a senior advisor to the network’s CEO, Leslie Moonves, having stepped back to a more strategic digital role in 2010. The same year she also joined the board of UK producer-distributor All3Media.

Prior to CBS, Tellem worked for Warner Bros Television, where she helped to launch Friends and ER.