Google-eyed
US TV giant Fox has become the latest network to block owners of Google TV from accessing its programmes via their new set top boxes.
It joins CBC,NBC and ABC which are all refusing to let their shows be shown via Google TV, accessed through their respective websites, The BBC reported. All the networks are reportedly worried that they could lose out on ad revenue as online advertising is cheaper than TV commercials.
Fox's decision will no doubt come as a big blow to the search giant as more popular TV shows become inaccessible via its newest venture, which it launched just last month. Google TV is available stateside and comes embedded in certain Sony TV sets or as a Logitech set top box.
Despite the knockback, Google is apparently up-beat about its TV future and Rishi Chandra, product manager for Google TV, reportedly said: "There are many content owners who are not blocking Google TV," at a TV conference in San Francisco.
"The web is a new technology and it's not unheard of whenever there is a new technology that a lot of the incumbents in the space are trying to understand what that technology is going to mean for them. We have seen it before whether it's VHS, DVD or DVR," he reportedly said.
According to Auntie, Chandra tried to downplay fears that Google is trying to replace cable TV in the US.
"We would like to make sure all that content on the web today is accessible through the Chrome browser which is effectively Google TV. It's up to the content owners to decide how they want to distribute their content to their users," he reportedly added.
With the likes of Google and Apple as well as others trying to control TV is US living rooms, research from Adaptive Path is said to have pointed out that people want new technology to be simple so they can watch TV just like they are used to, albeit with more choice.
Speaking at the same conference, Peter Merholz, president of Adaptive Path reportedy said:"All these tools, devices, settings, menus, configurations just get in the way of people's desire to just watch TV. Not everybody wants the latest whizzy, super-complicated set of features and functions," before criticising Google TV's complex remote.
He is said to believe that Google TV would benefit from making it easier for users to search for content, which should be a key differentiator from its rivals and one the search giant should be able to crack given its area of expertise.
