Pay-per-downloads to include CBS shows; software pack aimed at Microsoft
Google announced plans for an Internet video service that will carry a wide range of entertainment, sports and news programming, according to a person familiar with its plans.
Users will pay an undisclosed fee to download content supplied by partners that Google has lined up. These include TV broadcasters and the National Basketball Association, according to the source, who requested anonymity.
The internet search company will also participate in a "bundle" of consumer software that will be offered free over the internet, marking an attempt by Microsoft rivals to cement their position on the PC desktop before the launch of the next version of the Windows operating system.
Mountain View-based Google is expected to debut the new service at the Consumer Electronics Show, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the story. A Google representative responded to an interview request by saying that the company anticipates "many exciting announcements".
Larry Page, co-founder of Google, is scheduled to give a CES keynote.
A slew of companies, including Apple Computer, are trying to seize turf in the tiny video-on-demand market, even though studies indicate that the public has remained cool on the idea of replacing their TVs with a PC.
According to a Jupiter Research survey, only one in four people were interested in watching live or recorded TV on a PC. Just 28 percent of poll participants between the ages of 18 and 24 had ever watched a music video online.
It is safe to say that only a small minority of the population are doing anything with downloadable video, said Todd Chanko, a media analyst at Jupiter, adding that he had no reason to believe a surge of interest in downloadable video is just around the corner.
Steve Jobs seems to disagree. Last month, Apple announced a deal to add 11 NBC shows to its stable of television programming on iTunes. That followed deals that Apple cut to obtain reruns of popular ABC shows "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" last October.
Last month, Apple said it had sold more than 3 million videos, which cost $1.99 each, since launching the service in October.
Nitin Gupta, a media analyst for research firm Yankee Group, said the surging interest in mobile products will spur sales of downloadable video and the market is too new to gauge public opinion.
The pay-per-download video service, dubbed the Google Video Store, is one of the most ambitious attempts to bring traditional television content to the internet. For Google, it signals the first broad service where internet users will be expected to pay for content, as well as the first time the company has forged deeper commercial relationships with content owners.
Initial content on the service will include television shows from CBS, music videos from Sony BMG and news from ITN, as well as material from the National Basketball Association.
The search company hopes to position the new video service as the internet’s first "open digital content marketplace", a place where owners of video content can make as much of their material available as they want, according to the person familiar with its plans.
However, access to the store will be through an iTunes-like interface that will require users to download a new Google "player" onto their PCs.
In another sign of the hunt by TV networks to find new ways to reach paying viewers, News Corp’s Fox Entertainment Group announced a partnership with DirecTV that will make programming from its FX cable network available through video-on-demand as much as two days before those shows air on television.
The Fox announcements follow those of other major networks to sell their shows through new digital distribution channels or through cable and satellite video-on-demand. However, it marks the first time that a network has offered its programming to consumers before its traditional broadcast — something that could make it susceptible to piracy.
Services like this are the foundation for innovation, Gupta said. Companies here will find new ways to package video content, make interfaces more active…I don’t know the economics of Google’s model for this, but with their track record, I’m betting they have found a way to make money on this.
The new Google consumer software "bundle" will bring a new level of cooperation amongst a number of Microsoft rivals before it releases the next version of its Windows operating system.