By Tom Krazit,
Google TV channel television industry attention. Some TV programs on the websites of broadcast networks CBS and ABC are being blocked by Google when users try to access the TV on these sites.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that NBC confirmed it was blocking streams to Google TV users, although CNET was able to view shows on NBC.com using Google TV. (CBS.com is published by CBS Interactive, which also publishes CNET.)
The decision to block the programs only seems to affect full-length episodes available on the Web sites of those companies, and it began in earnest this week, according to a source familiar with the situation.
It does not affect the viewing of those shows through the broadcast TV part of Google TV, just the streaming of those shows to Google TV.
Google declined to comment on the issue beyond a prepared statement. "We are in the early stages of television and Google already has strong partnerships with Best Buy, Logitech and Sony, among others.
We are very excited about the possibilities of our new platform created for established media companies like Turner and HBO, and dozens of thousands of content creators, large and small.
Google TV enables access to all the Web content you already get today on your phone and PC, but it is ultimately the content owner’s choice to restrict their fans from accessing their content on the platform.”
Turner Broadcasting owns CNN and is making some content from its cable networks, including CNN, TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim, available to Google TV users.
Google TV is one of the more high-profile attempts in recent history by the tech industry to marry the PC-based Internet and the traditional television world.
Logitech and Sony released devices running the software earlier this month, which allows users to watch regular old broadcast television while pulling up a series of Internet-based applications and Web sites.
The idea is to give people something they’re familiar with–regular television–while introducing them to something new, video over the Internet.
Several companies, such as TBS, have agreed to optimize their streaming-video Web sites for Google TV while others, such as NBC Universal, agreed to build applications for the software. NBC Universal’s CNBC division actually built one of the default applications that ships with the software.
However, the major networks appear skeptical. The WSJ reported that some networks, such as ABC, had expressed concern that Google wasn’t blocking access to search results that contain sites with pirated versions of their shows.
In addition, Hulu, a joint venture Web video by Disney (ABC), NBC and News Corp. (Fox) is blocking access to Google from TV sets. Google and Hulu is said in negotiations for access to Hulu more services, but obviously no agreement is reached.
