Google plays down imminent expansion of Google TV to Canada

Nearly one year after Google TV’s initial U.S. release, market analysts say speculation of any imminent expansion of the over-the-top service into Canada has disappeared amid slumping sales and limited access to content rights. And Google Inc. is not saying that Canada should expect to see the service here soon. Released to significant fanfare in the U.S. last October, Google’s content aggregator for the television set was quickly billed as preparing for international expansion in 2011. In May 2010, technology news service Mashable cited Google TV sources when it reported that an “ggressive international expansion is planned for 2011.” Although Google executives at the time declined to identify which international markets the service would target for initial expansion, Canadian analysts and insiders hypothesized that Canada would be one of the first. “Some people speculated but I think that’s pretty common with many of our products when they go international,” Wendy Bairos Rozeluk, a Google spokeswoman in Toronto, told The Wire Report. Since its American release, the service has faced challenges in the U.S. as its devices have been blocked from accessing content streamed online by four major networks—NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox—and to content available through the popular streaming site Hulu. Sales of Google TV devices took a fall in early 2011 with manufacturer Logitech International S.A. reporting $5 million US in sales from Google TV's Revue set-top boxes and related peripheries during the first quarter of 2011. Logitech is not confirming precise numbers, but analysts estimate those earnings amounted to between 15,000 to 16,000 total units sold across the U.S. over the three-month period. In late July, Logitech announced it was chopping the price of the Revue from $249 US to $99 US, and acknowledged that distributors were returning more units than they were selling. Two weeks later, Sony also announced reductions in the retail price of its Google TV integrated HDTVs. “It’s been a very disappointing start to ,” Keith Nissen, an analyst who focuses on web-to-TV issues at the U.S. research firm In-Stat, said in an interview. “Really, I think right now that Google TV is kind of dead in the water.” Faced with difficulties in the U.S., it is unlikely that Google TV will be soon testing new markets, Nissen said. “Is there anything significantly different in that market that would lead them to believe that people will embrace it more than they would in the U.S.? If not, they’re not going to do it,” he said. “The only thing that would prompt international expansion would be if ... more content is available for Google TV in Canada, for instance, than it is in the U.S.” Google TV is an aggregator that allows users to search across multiple platforms to find all potential viewing options for any given video, program, or movie. Users can search TV broadcasts, online streaming options and even nearby video rental stores for available programming. “The big thing it offers, in theory, is the integration of where the content is,” Nissen said. “It provides an aggregated view of this future hybrid entertainment market, where we’re all going to have a combination of broadcast TV as well as online and all the other stuff that goes with it.” A similar service offered in Canada by New York-based company Boxee accesses content from the online sites of networks such as CBC, CTV, Global Television, the Comedy Network, History TV, as well as Netflix. Google TV in Canada would also draw on content through subscription services like Netflix, which, other than the U.S. and Canada, is not yet available in other markets around the world. It also aggregates video from YouTube, the Google-owned video streaming service that now ranks as the world’s second-most used online search engine. Johanne Lemay, co-president of the media and telecom consultancy Lemay-Yates Associates, said Google could try to use YouTube to attract viewers to Google TV or as leverage in content rights negotiations. “With YouTube, Google has something to bring to the table,” Lemay said. Lemay said an important element of any Google TV expansion is ensuring users have access to the widest breadth of online and TV content. Otherwise, Google could set itself up for bad reviews and dissatisfied customers, she said. “There’s nothing that would stop them from coming into Canada. They would just have to get the rights,” Lemay said. “The feedback on the service has not been ecstatic yet, and I think before they move outside of the U.S. that may be what they need to tackle.” Bairos Rozeluk said Google TV is not yet where the company wants it to be. “We’re the first to acknowledge the smart TV market is at version one—both in terms of devices and consumer demand,” Bairos Roseluk wrote in a follow-up email. “We’re now focused on creating a simpler interface and dramatically increasing the number of apps available. We’re confident that the next version will be significantly better—and that smart TV technology, like smart phone technology, will develop very rapidly.” Roseluk said that plans for international expansion have not been dropped. “With regards to international availability of the product, we are committed to working with ou partners to launch products internationally as soon as possible but we cannot confirm exact dates,” she said. nkyonka@thewirereport.ca

Google plays down imminent expansion of Google TV to Canada

Broadcast | August 19, 2011

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