Turner Backs Google TV, Confident that TV Industry won't be hit like Music Industry

written by: Richard Kastelein

Details

Published on Thursday, 21 October 2010 14:21

Earlier this month at the OTT Mashup event in London, Videonet picked up some jewels previously unreported in the press with a revelation in a recent article that Turner is backing Google TV.

Casey Harwood, Senior Vice President for Turner Broadcasting Europe, has sent a clear message to the online video services and Consumer Electronics markets that they need to recognize the value of television in its current form if they want to move the medium forwards. This echoes sentiments expressed by YouView CTO Anthony Rose at the same London event that denying the existence or importance of linear television, and trying to build TV platforms primarily around on-demand consumption, will only slow the migration to non-linear viewing.

And it's mainly due to the fact that Google TV is a combination of linear programming and broadcast brands, according the Harwood.

John Moulding from Videonet made some interesting observations on utilization of the single screen experience - one that has been falling out of favour for many since the iPad and tablets have come into play as a highly useful tools for a two screen social TV experience:

One of the big innovations is Dual View, which allows consumers to navigate between websites and TV or look at both simultaneously on the same screen. That opens up a myriad of possibilities for interactive enhancements. Sony highlights the ability to watch a football game while tracking your fantasy team, or tweet about the TV show you are watching (via Twitter) or update your Facebook status while viewing a movie.

Harwood added:

“Today, I don’t see any single application or mobile device, or any single social network that in itself is going to disintermediate a well packaged linear and catch-up service. However, all those things are important additions to the television experience for engagement of consumers and we will start to see convergence of social media... From where I am sitting, in Pay TV at Turner, I don’t see any market failure in the television business. You can see why Silicon Valley wants a slice of the action.”

The SVP at Turner is confident that the TV industry will not be disrupted in the same way the music industry has been:

"We have seen how the Internet can turn billion dollar companies into million dollar companies but believes that television is in a much stronger position to defend itself against loss of revenue than the music industry was."