The Pontiflex Blog

Coming soon to a TV near you…

August 6, 2010 at 2:26 pm Jessica Ling Leave a comment

Earlier this summer, Google successfully defended itself against a major lawsuit by Viacom. According to Wired, the court’s ruling stated that “internet companies, even if they know they are hosting infringing material,  are immune from copyright liability if they promptly remove works at a rights-holder’s request — under what is known as a takedown notice.” In other words, user generated content producers and repurposers of copywrited materials rejoice!

While it was a big win for YouTube, Viacom is far from being its only source of content. Google has struck (legal) deals with many major networks and studios: Sony, Showtime, CBS, Discovery, etc. that enable the video portal to run full length episodes at no cost to viewers.

With over 2 billion video views a day, YouTube has a monster viewership to monetize. So what will that look like?

As Google continues to acquire/use content from networks and studios, what’s stopping Google TV from putting cable companies out of business? If you can watch all your favorite shows on YouTube, Netflix, and Hulu, why send those big checks to Cablevision and Time Warner anymore?

Various viewpoints sound off:

PC World says it’ll flop like Google Wave.

Analyst firm Gartner said in Wired that it’s a blockbuster move for Google to do this ahead of Apple and Microsoft.

What do you think?

Ps. For those of you who are unaware of what Google TV is… here’s the Wikipedia definition: Google TV is software platform for set-top boxes and HDTVs based on the Android operating system and co-developed by Google, Intel, Sony and Logitech. It will enable users to access any website from their television: including online video portals.

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