If you’re a Google TV subscriber, you can forget about Fox. News Corp., has opted to block Google TV devices from accessing full-length episodes of its TV shows when searched from Google TV’s Web browser, reported the Associated Press.
Fox joins a growing list of major broadcasters including ABC, CBS and NBC that have decided to block access. According to the AP article, the Sony television that comes with Google TV software can still access networks like any regular TV, just not their online counterparts. The Logitech set-top box that comes with Google TV also does not interfere with regular TV signals.
Still, Fox’s decision is disappointing news to those who have jumped on the Google TV bandwagon. Google hopes to convince home-dwellers to search and watch content available from a variety of sources including TV providers, the web, their personal content libraries and mobile applications, from the comfort of their couch.
In October, Sony unveiled its Internet TV which is built on the Android platform. Users can quickly sift through Internet and television content. Models also feature Dual View, which lets users watch television while tweeting about what they’re watching, checking their fantasy football scores, or finding related content on the Web. Content can be bookmarked for easy access and the Android Market, scheduled for released in early 2011, will allow consumers to purchase and run applications. And then there’s the Logitech Revue, a set-top box that delivers the Google TV experience to an existing home entertainment center by allowing users to search and access content anywhere from the web, from a satellite or cable provider.
It’s no wonder broadcasters want to circumvent viewing over Internet-connected TVs – a far less profitable practice than regular TV. Time Warner Cable lost 155,000 TV subscribers during the last quarter, including digital, compared to 64,000 losses last year at this time. Recently, Comcast reported losing 275,000 subscribers. That’s prompting industry observers to question whether Internet TV is starting to eat into the cable business’s profits.
Edited by
Tammy Wolf