Greed, Stupidity and Google TV
Google TV is being blocked to access content by some TV network and broadcaster owned web sites. The motivation is greed. Perhaps just stupid. But when almost a hundred million dollars are at stake, you can't just sit down and wait for things to happen only to realize the favor's going for Google alone... yeah, right!
Released in October 2010, Google TV intends to bring Google powered Internet TV to homes. Initial appliances were launched in partnership with Sony and Logitech. Google TV is not the first Internet TV to hit the market. There are already Internet TV ready products in stores from Boxee
, Roku
, Apple
, Samsung
and even Sony
itself.
However, in less than a month after the Google TV products were released, major TV networks like ABC, CBS and NBC announced that they are blocking Google TVs from accessing full episodes which they publish through their respective web sites. News has it that, with a Cablevision dispute in the air, Fox is likely to follow.
This development is a major blow to the Internet TV appliance business in general. Apparently, most TV networks are not in favor of sharing content without assuring that they earn their keep. More likely, the main target of interest is versus Google TV. If you think about it, Google and TV broadcasting companies are in the same business: ads! Google could use Google TV to capitalize on content owned by these TV networks -- and that's basically what they don't like. To mimic the cable business model, they want to get paid as content partners.
Google can use Google TV to potentially mix its own ads during a streaming video. Regardless if Google would really do it or not, but in case they do, the content owners should be assured that they'll get paid accordingly. If not that, Google should assure these companies that their respective in-video ad earnings would be respected... and that Google would make no claims whatsoever that would be unfavorable to the interest of these TV networks. The confidence should be established that Google TV is really just an appliance and that it would not be used by Google to "steal" earnings from the content owners.
It is because of this conflict of interest that bothers TV networks. These TV companies spend their own money to publish their own content to their own web sites running on their own web servers to get traffic for their on-line ads. It is, therefore, their contention that Google should pay them for content.
It all seem mostly driven by greed, but there's a hint of stupidity here. The expanded demographics that Google TV can potentially deliver is undeniable. These networks can deliberately adjust their ad delivery model to make sure that they earn from the content they serve. If you think about it, no matter what appliance or device you use to access their content, it is still their content and they can have full control. Google TV would still access them from their web site so it should still be their traffic, not Google's. The only reason I could think of that could cause alarm is when Google overlays their ads with Google's own ads -- and I suppose that's something Google should promise they would never do with Google TV!
These greedy TV networks want Google to pay them as content partners. They want Google to pay them for full episodes that are currently available for free on their web sites! Google can choose to ignore them and show them what they're missing, but that would take time. Meanwhile, people expect Google TV to be a TV. It's a shame for these TV networks to show their true colors. They don't really care about their viewers. They only care about how much they can earn. In this case, they intend to extort from companies that are richer and smarter than they are. It's pathetic... and almost unethical... but mostly just plain stupid.
Released in October 2010, Google TV intends to bring Google powered Internet TV to homes. Initial appliances were launched in partnership with Sony and Logitech. Google TV is not the first Internet TV to hit the market. There are already Internet TV ready products in stores from Boxee
, Roku, Apple, Samsung and even Sony itself.However, in less than a month after the Google TV products were released, major TV networks like ABC, CBS and NBC announced that they are blocking Google TVs from accessing full episodes which they publish through their respective web sites. News has it that, with a Cablevision dispute in the air, Fox is likely to follow.
This development is a major blow to the Internet TV appliance business in general. Apparently, most TV networks are not in favor of sharing content without assuring that they earn their keep. More likely, the main target of interest is versus Google TV. If you think about it, Google and TV broadcasting companies are in the same business: ads! Google could use Google TV to capitalize on content owned by these TV networks -- and that's basically what they don't like. To mimic the cable business model, they want to get paid as content partners.
Google can use Google TV to potentially mix its own ads during a streaming video. Regardless if Google would really do it or not, but in case they do, the content owners should be assured that they'll get paid accordingly. If not that, Google should assure these companies that their respective in-video ad earnings would be respected... and that Google would make no claims whatsoever that would be unfavorable to the interest of these TV networks. The confidence should be established that Google TV is really just an appliance and that it would not be used by Google to "steal" earnings from the content owners.
It is because of this conflict of interest that bothers TV networks. These TV companies spend their own money to publish their own content to their own web sites running on their own web servers to get traffic for their on-line ads. It is, therefore, their contention that Google should pay them for content.
It all seem mostly driven by greed, but there's a hint of stupidity here. The expanded demographics that Google TV can potentially deliver is undeniable. These networks can deliberately adjust their ad delivery model to make sure that they earn from the content they serve. If you think about it, no matter what appliance or device you use to access their content, it is still their content and they can have full control. Google TV would still access them from their web site so it should still be their traffic, not Google's. The only reason I could think of that could cause alarm is when Google overlays their ads with Google's own ads -- and I suppose that's something Google should promise they would never do with Google TV!
These greedy TV networks want Google to pay them as content partners. They want Google to pay them for full episodes that are currently available for free on their web sites! Google can choose to ignore them and show them what they're missing, but that would take time. Meanwhile, people expect Google TV to be a TV. It's a shame for these TV networks to show their true colors. They don't really care about their viewers. They only care about how much they can earn. In this case, they intend to extort from companies that are richer and smarter than they are. It's pathetic... and almost unethical... but mostly just plain stupid.
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