Tag Archives: blocked content

Network TV says HALT! to Google TV: FOX joins the fray

Shortly after Logitech and Sony introduced their devices that welcomed Google TV into family living rooms, CBS, NBC, and ABC blocked TV programming on their websites from being accessed on the Google TV platform.  On Wednesday, after only a couple of weeks on the fence, FOX decided to join its network competitors and block its Internet streaming content from being watched on TVs through Google TV-enabled boxes.  Why is this happening?  I’ll give you the same reason as before.  It’s all about making money, and Internet-based ads provide far less revenue than television ads.  We’re in what I call a weird transition state, and the TV networks simply don’t know how to handle to move from watching TV to watching TV content from the Internet on the TV.  It’s all a big mess right now with the customers stuck on the unfortunate side.  Hopefully network TV can get their act together and make peace with the tech companies (Google, Boxee, etc.) who are trying to make content accessible on more screens.  We will win in the end; the question is not if but when.

[Via Engadget]

Network TV says HALT! to Google TV

Didcha get yourself a new Sony Internet TV or Blu-ray player or are you thinking about impulse buying the Logitech Revue powered by Google TV?  If you’re contemplating such a purchase did you think you’d have the ability to watch network TV content off their respective websites using the built-in Chrome browser?  Well you thought wrong, unfortunately.  Today the Wall Street Journal confirms that CBS, NBC, and ABC have blocked TV programming on their websites from being accessed on the Google TV platform.  NBC and ABC are allowing select promotional content to be viewed, but if you attempt to stream a full episode of The Office you will fail miserably.  And to top all this off, Hulu is blocked too; and not because it’s Flash-based–Chrome runs Flash content just fine–it’s the networks’ fault.  So what’s Google going to do about this?  In a word, nothing.  In more words: “Google TV enables access to all the Web content you already get today on your phone and PC, but it is ultimately the content owners’ choice to restrict their fans from accessing their content on the platform,” said a Google spokeswoman.  News Corp., for the time being, has not opted to block FOX content.

Why is this happening, you ask?  Well in the end it all comes down to making money.  And networks know TV ads bring in a whole lot more cashola than Internet-based ads.  Right now we’re stuck in this weird transition state where TV has snuck into bed with the Internet and just doesn’t know what to do next.  Here’s to hoping that something is figured out real soon.  Because I want my on-demand teevee streaming content this very second.  Boxee, good luck.

[Via WSJ]