Attempts by broadcasters to seek payment for allowing their online video to be viewed through Google Inc.'s new Web-connected TV platform represents a "misunderstanding" of what it is, a Google executive said Tuesday.
Nets ‘Misunderstand’ Google TV, Exec Says
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Attempts by broadcasters to seek payment for allowing their online video to be viewed through Google Inc.’s new Web-connected TV platform represents a “misunderstanding” of what it is, a Google executive said Tuesday.
Broadcasters ABC, NBC and CBS have blocked full episodes of their shows from being accessed through Google TV’s Web browser since the product became available last month.
Google TV is a software platform that allows users to access websites and online videos through their televisions.
Rishi Chandra, Google TV’s lead product manager, likened the broadcasters’ payment requests to a network demanding fees from Microsoft Corp. so video would work on its Internet Explorer browser.
Analysts have said the broadcasters’ blockade was intended to discourage people from canceling their monthly subscriptions with cable and satellite TV service providers by eliminating the option of watching online episodes for free on their Web-connected televisions.
Later, Chandra clarified his remarks to say that although Google TV would not pay to access online shows, another Google subsidiary, YouTube, could extend its advertising revenue-share model to the living room.
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“The way we would pay for content is through a similar mechanism that we pay for content through YouTube,” Chandra said in a phone interview. “This is the difference between Google TV and YouTube. YouTube is a service. Google TV itself is literally just a platform.”
Chandra, who made the initial remarks on the sidelines of the Streaming Media West conference, said it’s up to content providers to decide how much to charge consumers. He said Google TV is meant to supplement the cable and broadcast TV business model by adding Web access.
He also said Google TV is preparing to provide access to Hulu Plus, the $10-per-month online video subscription plan that allows users to access the back episodes of many current TV shows from News Corp.’s Fox, NBC Universal and The Walt Disney Co.’s ABC, such as “Glee,””30 Rock,” and “Modern Family.”
CBS and NBC declined to comment. ABC did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The Sony television that came pre-installed with the Google software package can still access their channels like any other TV, such as with an antenna or a cable or satellite TV subscription. The Logitech set-top box that comes with Google TV also does not interfere with regular TV signals.
Comments (3)
Kathryn Miller says:
November 3, 2010 at 12:44 pm
‘Actually, it is Google that — for the moment — is completely clueless. Google thinks that distribution/access is king; the networks know that content is king. Google wants to insert their ads into the tv experience, without paying for the priviledge.
Michael Hanafee says:
November 6, 2010 at 2:35 pm
What’s hilarious is there are a variety of solutions which replicate the functionality of GoogleTV; wireless USB, WiDi, HDMI cable w/ audio cord, etc. Point being, consumers can already access content via the web and enjoy it on their television sets. The only thing left to do is educate the broader public on how easy it is; enter Best Buy, or another large retailer. The only power content owners have anymore is around their windowing strategy.
Lots more I can write, but that’s the gist.
Michael Hanafee says:
November 6, 2010 at 3:09 pm
…and to John Willkie: in the end it doesn’t matter who sells, nor who pays for the right to sell, because the economics around a metrics-based online ad sales approach don’t calculate, and they completely undermine the economics necessary to support the traditional production model (read: budget).
Traditional ad sales are driven by supply and demand (read: competition) around “must-buy” programs (CSI, Survivor, Super Bowl, etc.) that enable salespeople to package additional commercial inventory that advertisers don’t necessarily care to buy. This doesn’t work on the web at scale because there is an endless supply of inventory, and premium CPMs are pretty well set, barring a few markups for targeting.
So, if more and more consumers migrate to an online, on-demand viewing behavior, you can see that the root problem is not about who sells, but that the economics of online ad sales will never yield the total revenue required to sustain the traditional business model…this impacts the entire industry; production budgets, cast, crew, executives, etc. …and when the quality of programming goes down, so do the ratings, impacting everything downstream; ad sales, license fees, syndication, etc.
You can already see things crumbling; every TV show (network & syndication) has experienced, and will continue experiencing, deep budget cuts, smaller cast sizes, etc. You’re seeing more and more celebs show up in commercial spots, film stars moving back into TV, which used to be taboo, and more. The quality of what’s on the air speaks for itself. Networks are less experimental, and more inclined to launch spin-offs (CSI, Law & Order, etc.) and formulaic shows (reality).
Cable networks still buy re-runs of quality programming, but things are so bad, they’re now able to negotiate the right to air episodes over and over, in marathons, on weekends, stream online, etc. All of which creates more ad inventory for them to sell in order to justify program license fees. Sometimes, you’ll find re-runs airing on multiple channels; this happens because in order to generate the same amount of licensing revenue as in previous years, content owners have to cut 3-4 deals instead of just one…I can go on and on, but it’s Saturday.
Bottom line: it’s a sad state of affairs and only getting worse…and the issue of GoogleTV selling ads, or not, is to the overall issue, what a fart is to a gale.