{"id":421,"date":"2011-12-06T13:00:12","date_gmt":"2011-12-06T13:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=421"},"modified":"2011-12-07T19:19:53","modified_gmt":"2011-12-07T19:19:53","slug":"google-looking-at-pay-tv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/421\/google-looking-at-pay-tv\/","title":{"rendered":"Google looking at pay TV"},"content":{"rendered":"

Google<\/a> is thinking of getting into the pay television business as modern lifestyles increasingly turn to the Internet for entertainment, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.<\/p>\n

The Journal cited unnamed sources as disclosing that Google is considering adding cable-style television programming as well as telephone features to a high-speed Internet project in Kansas City, Missouri.<\/p>\n

Google has discussed the idea with major television firms but no deals have been made, according to the Journal.<\/p>\n

The company declined to comment on what it referred to as speculation.<\/p>\n

The unconfirmed news came as Google set out to breathe new life into its moribund Internet television platform with the roll-out of second-generation Google TV software.<\/p>\n

Google is among technology firms betting that the future of home entertainment is films, television shows and other video content streamed on demand over the Internet.<\/p>\n

The California Internet titan last year launched Google TV<\/a>, which is powered by Android<\/a> software and Chrome Web browser and can be accessed using Sony TVs or set-top boxes from Logitech that route Web content to existing television sets.<\/p>\n

Sony<\/a> and Logitech<\/a> have both slashed prices on Google TV offerings in the face of disappointing sales.<\/p>\n

Updated Google TV software seeks to make it easier and more intuitive for viewers to find online video.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Internet marks a new chapter for television,\u201d Google said in a blog post.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis chapter is not about replacing broadcast or cable TV; it\u2019s not about replicating what\u2019s on TV to the Web.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about bringing millions of new channels to your TV from the next generation of creators, application developers and networks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Google owned online video venue YouTube<\/a> is adding about 100 channels of original programming to the globally popular online venue for video sharing.<\/p>\n

YouTube\u2019s dive into original content includes deals with celebrity partners such as pop music star Madonna and actor Ashton Kutcher.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven more talented creators and original entertainment will soon join YouTube\u2019s existing channel lineup,\u201d YouTube global head of content partnerships Robert Kyncl said in a blog post last week.<\/p>\n

Google reportedly laid out more than $100 million to establish the partnerships, which come as it tries to become a preferred source of content for Internet-linked televisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese channels will have something for everyone, whether you\u2019re a mom, a comedy fan, a sports nut, a music lover or a pop-culture maven,\u201d Kyncl said.<\/p>\n

The first of the original channels will appear on YouTube this month with more added through the coming year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Google is thinking of getting into the pay television business<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[25,53],"class_list":["post-421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-active","tag-google"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":524,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421\/revisions\/524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}