Hulu has recruited Richard Irving, an 18-year Microsoft veteran who most recently oversaw the Xbox One user experience, to head up long-term product strategy ahead of the streaming service’s planned “skinny bundle” pay-TV launch in 2017.

Irving, named Hulu’s VP of product management, reports to senior VP and head of experience Ben Smith — another former Xbox product manager, who joined 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 live-streaming offerings.

Hulu, which is owned by NBCUniversal, Disney and 21st Century Fox, is developing an over-the-top “skinny” bundle of TV channels slated to launch next year that would include a lineup of live broadcast and cable networks. Last month, the company hired Reagan Feeney, a 19-year veteran of DirecTV, as VP of network partnerships to manage strategic relationships and carriage agreements with networks and operators for the forthcoming live TV service.

Before joining Hulu, Irving was partner group program manager for Xbox One at Microsoft in Seattle, where he oversaw the Xbox One user experience, including the the Xbox app for Windows 10, iOS and Android, and Live Avatars. Prior to that, he held several other leadership roles at Microsoft, overseeing programs including Kinect for Xbox 360 and live TV for Xbox One, having joined the company in 1998. Irving is also a named inventor on six patents, spanning his work on Xbox, speech recognition and e-commerce.

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Irving started at Hulu on Monday, July 18, and will be based in the company’s Seattle office.

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