More original TV coming from Microsoft: Seth Green, Sarah Silverman, and lots of sci-fi

Microsoft is doubling down on its efforts to create an original slate of TV shows for its Xbox One console.

The company is planning new shows featuring top-tier comedians Seth Green (Family Guy, Robot Chicken) and Sarah Silverman as well as an original sci-fi robot drama “Humans,” reports Bloomberg. This is in addition to programs Microsoft previously announced, including a live action Halo show, a remake of classic sci-fi series Blake 7, and original programming from the NFL. The company is offering six new shows total, the first of which should kick off in June, according to the Bloomberg report.

“TV, as the highest-reach form of entertainment you can find, is a critical part [of wooing consumers to Microsoft],” Xbox head Phil Spencer told Bloomberg. That sounds like a company that’s prepared to make a huge commitment when it comes to original programming.

With all the other companies now producing original television programming, such as Amazon, Hulu, and of course Netflix, it will get much harder to grab consumer attention — especially if some of these programs remain exclusive to the Xbox platform.

But that doesn’t mean the opportunity to grab new viewers isn’t huge. eMarketer estimates that there were 186.2 million U.S. digital video viewers in 2013, which is an 8.5 percent increase compared to the previous year. Of those viewers, 68 percent watched TV shows at least once per month on some kind of streaming device last year.