I earlier asked the question: Will
Google Succeed with TV Where Apple and Microsoft Have Fallen Short? Well it
seems that Google is also having a rocky road, at least according to Rick Munarriz at the Motely Fool. Rick noted that the Wall Street Journal reported on how
Google is meeting some serious resistance from media giants in its plan to
converge television with online video.
Apparently Google had no problem lining up A-list hardware partners. Intel is making the chips and Sony making high-def TVs with the
Web-savvy software pre-installed. Logitech
is even making set-top boxes for those who don't want to pay up for a new Sony
television and Best Buy has
agreed to stock the enhanced TVs and Logitech's boxes.
However, as Rick notes, these partnerships will not succeed unless
Google can get the major networks to participate. Google TV aims to change thee
way we consume TV content. Instead
of passively going along with e broadcast schedules, the platform can search
the Web to find previous episodes, clips, and related content that is available
to stream right away. It's easier than TiVo as this approach eliminates
the need for any kind of prep work such as loading up a hard drive.
The networks have many reasons to not play along. They make less money on streaming and
Google TV will only take more traffic from the live shows with the ads. The
Google approach gives to much power to the people and, of course, Google. They are going to have to figure out a
way to get the networks to play along if they are going to succeed where apple
and Microsoft have not.
This really isn't all that surprising. Google has long had a combative relationship with "Old media." Why license with Google when most major networks are already in bed with Hulu and Hulu is embedded with Bing? Eventually, I'd like to see internet TV be more competitive, but it might take a bit longer for Google to break down that barrier with the bigger networks who see it as the enemy.
Posted by: Kimberlee Morrison | September 09, 2010 at 09:27 PM