Google TV launching in Canada with 150 TV-optimized apps

Canada's over-the-top television landscape will become more competitive this summer as Sony Corp. launches Google Inc.'s Google TV product in the country for the first time. Sony Canada said in a release Monday it will sell a new device called the NSZ-GS7, or Sony Internet Player with Google TV, for $200 in Canada. It will be available from Canadian retailers in August and pre-orders can be made online starting June 27 on Sony's website, the company said. Google TV, which previously launched in the United States on Sony and Logitech International SA devices, was not available in Canada until now. Due to nationally negotiated broadcast rights, movies, live sports and television shows must be made available by the Canadian broadcasters and companies that own the rights to that content. They must develop apps to operate on Google's Android platform to work on Google TV—unless their websites are accessed through the system's browser. Canadian broadcasters are expected to develop TV-optimized apps for Google TV but it was not clear Tuesday whether any are now available. Aaron Brindle, a spokesman for Google Canada, said in an emailed statement that thousands of developers are working with Android and “we expect new apps to appear on Google TV all the time.” “One of the great features of Google TV is access to the Google Play app store . Currently, there are thousands of Android apps available in Google Play, of which about 150 are optimized for TV,” Brindle said. He said there is an NHL.com app optimized for Google TV, as well as sports apps from Canadian specialty channels TSN, Sportsnet, and The Score, plus “a variety of professional team apps (like the Toronto Maple Leafs).” Christina Stefanski, a spokeswoman for Sony Canada, said in a phone interview that adding apps to the platform from Canadian broadcasters like Global (owned by Shaw Communications Inc.), CTV (owned by BCE Inc.) and CBC/Radio-Canada is “in the works.” “This is a first generation product in Canada, so the apps will continue to grow,” Christina Stefanski, a spokeswoman for Sony Canada, said. Stefanski confirmed that Netflix Inc.'s Canadian library will be available through an app on Google TV. Google TV is entering an increasingly competitive over-the-top landscape in Canada where Boxee Inc. offers its Internet TV “Boxee Box” and Roku Inc. launched its streaming device in April. Apple Inc., which now offers an Apple TV device, is expected to launch a new iTV system this fall or in early 2013. The Google TV interface allows users to load and purchase apps and browse the Internet through Google's Chrome browser. Sony is launching the new device internationally, so that it will be “the first manufacturer to launch Google TV products outside of the United States, initially starting with the United Kingdom in July, followed later by Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Netherlands, Brazil, and Mexico,” the release said. “n the U.K. you’ll be able to pop live TV into the background while you read up on The Guardian’s website with Chrome, catch up on the latest episode of EastEnders on the BBC iPlayer, view Lauren Luke’s latest make-up tips on YouTube, and choose from the hundreds of apps optimized for TV in Google Play,” Suveer Kothari, Google TV's head of global distribution, wrote in a posting on the Google TV blog this week. Google intends to extend the reach of its TV platform by working with manufacturers to load it onto more Internet-connected smart TVs. Last December, Eric Schmidt, now Google's executive chairman, said that “by the summer of 2012, the majority of the televisions you see in stores will have Google TV embedded in it.” Sony also launched a new Internet Blu-ray Disc player device loaded with Google TV, called the NSZ-GP9, which will be available from retailers “in time for the holiday season” for $330, the release said. The Blu-Ray player includes a microphone system for voice commands, Sony said. "Through the introduction of the Sony Internet Player with Google TV, we are expanding the reach and connectivity of the powerful Android platform which includes Sony's smartphones, tablet and renowned Audio & Video products,” Hideki Ito, senior director of marketing and home network products at Sony Canada, added in a Sony statement. “Google TV enhances the viewer experience by allowing consumers to easily find what they want to watch, listen to or play using familiar search engine technology.” Sony released the original Google TV device in the United States in 2010. Logitech released an updated version the same year, but due to lagging sales, the price of the device, called the Revue, was cut from $299 US to $99 US. The company said last year it will stop manufacturing the Revue after taking a $100-million US writedown on it. Sony's new devices include a remote control with a backlit keyboard, a touch pad, and a motion sensor for games. In a review of Sony's new Google TV device posted June 26, tech website Engadget said it is “a solid follow-up with some much-appreciated enhancements over previous Google TV hardware.” Reviewer Ben Drawbaugh added: “At $199 it's one of the least expensive ways to get the Google ecosystem onto your TV, but almost twice what many have come to expect to pay for the hockey puck streamers from competition like Roku and Apple. By ignoring the price of the competitors and remembering what we paid for the last programmable remote we bought, we don't think it's overpriced.” Roku, which launched in Canada with 100 apps, is available in two models priced at $90 or $110. The Boxee Box sells for $190 at Best Buy in Canada. The CRTC is monitoring the rising popularity of over-the-top television options in Canada, which in contrast to the traditional broadcasting sector are unregulated and can be foreign-owned. The commission said in April that it will continue “study trends related to over-the-top programming services and their impact on the Canadian system. These efforts have included the monitoring of consumer behaviour, technology and financial trends, as well as the review of publicly available analysis by third-party experts.” sdoyle@thewirereport.ca

Google TV launching in Canada with 150 TV-optimized apps

Broadcast | June 26, 2012

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Google TV launching in Canada with 150 TV-optimized apps

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