Digital TV News

Google to launch online TV service

Tuesday 25 May, 2010

By Becca Talbot - becca@consumerchoices.co.uk

Internet giant Google has confirmed its plans to launch a new internet service for TVs.

Google has confirmed that it is working with TV manufacturers Sony and Logitech to develop set-top boxes and TV sets which will have access to its new service.

Households using the new service will be able to watch internet-fed videos on-demand and access TV websites, such as YouTube, via their TV sets at the touch of a button, as well as watching programmes through their traditional TV service.

Salahuddin Choudhary, product manager for Google TV, said the service aims to combine broadcast services with the “freedom and power of the internet.”

He added: “Your television is also no longer confined to showing just video. With the entire internet in your living room, your TV becomes more than a TV - it can be a photo slideshow viewer, a gaming console, a music player and much more.”

Last week the Office of Fair Trading gave the partners of Project Canvas the go-ahead so they can continue developing their rival service.

Project Canvas will allow users to watch catch-up TV on services like the BBC iPlayer and 4oD, as well as the standard TV channels on Freeview, and internet TV services such as BT Vision and TalkTalk TV via an internet-connected set-top box. Project Canvas will rival Google TV and FetchTV.