Google TV Is a Tough Sell Among Would-Be Partners
This WSJ report should come as no surprise. Google is being rebuffed after asking nicely for access to the networks’ content. Still, the geek-space is taken aback: TechCrunch’s Nicholas Deleon mocks Hollywood, saying they’re ‘not exactly the most forward-looking place to do business.’
Maybe. But maybe the networks see no good reason to bend over backwards just because Google is nicely asking for access to their content. Especially since the only real immediate value add for the networks and cable providers is potentially happier customers and better data.
I’d wager the networks’ hesitance is because the television install-base is slow, massive, and (most importantly) already works. For most of the American public, more technology means more confusion (remember the digital TV switch?). There goes the customer satisfaction argument.
The TV business is far from the world Google knows. The infrastructure is wildly varied. Set-top boxes are often 10 or more years old. Applications or services pushed out to these networks need to be mere kilobytes, or they risk only supporting a small fraction of the install base.
So why don’t they just update the boxes, or (even better) pick up a new Google TV? Because most of the country is content with TV, as-is. Why buy a box when this works. Further, most people don’t think about their cable. They don’t change boxes when something new comes out, only when they move. Television is a passive medium (and most like it that way). As a result, there’s a absolutely massive install-base of varying hardware, with varying degrees of infrastructure supporting it.
Google is developing what I call a San Francisco Solution: a clever answer to a question nobody asked.
Sometimes, these SF Solution work. Apple, for example, rolls out these solutions slowly. Starting with early adopters and allowing the solution to spur questions throughout the masses. They account for this process. Their clever answers generate questions that people didn’t know how to ask. Not questions they’d never ask. This is how to innovate in a market.
Google TV spurs a question from America, but it’s hypothetical: Why do I need search on my TV when CSI is always on?
