From goggle box to Google box

March 18, 2010 by Nick Clayton · Leave a Comment

oldTV In a move which threatens to turn the family battles for the remote into an all-out war, Google is reported to be working on a system to bring the web to television in partnership with Intel and Logitech. None of the firms will confirm or deny the existence of the project.

But it would be surprising if the report in The New York Times was entirely without foundation. All the companies have a great deal to gain by success and much to lose if they get left behind.

So-called “set-top boxes” which most people confusingly keep under their televisions are becoming increasingly sophisticated. They have to be in order to cope with decoding, recording and displaying multiple high-definition channels delivered by aerial, satellite dish, cable or broadband phone line.

The idea of the Google software is to link these boxes more closely to the web so viewers can easily switch from TV channels to web content. Google owns YouTube which would obviously be a beneficiary.

More importantly it would enable the search engine giant to extend its advertising service from computer screens into the living room. Its technology could well be suited to delivering commercials in the increasingly fragmented world of television where the number of channels keeps growing and viewers use video recorders to time-shift programmes and skip the ad breaks.

The set-top box market is also one that’s largely eluded Intel. It might be inside most of the world’s PCs, but that’s where margins are really being squeezed. And the company already has a chip called the “Atom” which powers most of the world’s cheap compact netbooks and could work well with television.

Sony, meanwhile, has not been having an easy time in recent years. This could give it the opportunity to differentiate its tellies from all those big flat-screens on the market. Logitech, amongst other things, makes sophisticated remote controls which would be a vital component if this new “Googlevision” is going to be easy enough to use for the world’s couch potatoes.

Although everything adds up from a business perspective the public may need to be persuaded. Google’s obvious competitor, Apple TV, has not been wildly popular. Sky+, in the UK at least, seems to provide enough for subscribers.

Google could succeed because it will be giving away its Android-based software and there won’t be restrictions on what viewers can watch. Apple TV, for instance, doesn’t allow streamed video from any source except iTunes and YouTube, and we’ll see how long the latter lasts. You can’t even watch the BBC iPlayer on Apple TV. The developer of a plug-in which would have made it possible was told to remove the program from his website in February.

Now it remains to be seen if there’ll be any part of our lives that isn’t capable of being Googled.

Share and Enjoy: