Viacom Joins the Google TV Blockade
Viacom, owner of networks such as Comedy Central, MTV, and Nickelodeon, is the latest to join the fight against Google TV.
“Sorry, this content is unavailable for your device” is becoming an all-too-familiar message for owners of Google TV devices. All the major U.S. broadcasters (ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox) and Hulu already block access to anyone hoping to watch full episodes of their favorite television shows online.
Not a shocking move from Viacom, which has been battling YouTube over copyright infringement for years. This is yet another blow to Google TV, which can no longer honestly boast that it connects “the entire web.”
In a statement to paidContent, Viacom said: “We’re blocking access to our full episode content from Google TV’s Web browser. We continue to evaluate Google TV to identify opportunities where it may make sense to optimize our Web content for the platform.”
So, it sounds like Viacom views Google TV as a web browser. Yet, it’s no problem watching on a PC via Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, or even Google Chrome?
In the meantime, all these networks aren’t making any money on their own online advertising. And early Google TV users lose.
The target for sales of Google TV products by the end of the year was around 1 million. These reports, as well as some recent bad reviews, are certainly putting the future of Google TV in question.
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