This is how an industry changes: An old technology butts up against a new
technology, and the businesses controlling both distrust one another until the
dividing lines between the technologies blur and ultimately disappear. Here at
the end of 2011, its television thats going through this metamorphosis. Cable
companies are becoming streaming video companies , broadcast content is becoming
web content, and computer technology companies are becoming television
manufacturers . Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) made strides to ease this process along
in late 2010 with its ill-fated Google TV project. It failed miserably, but now
Google is refreshing the project. Google TVs rebirth might do more than just
secure Googles place in the television business, though Google TV might be the
key to finally making YouTube the profit driver it hoped for when Google
purchased it five years ago. Google TV is a platform, used in Sony (NYSE: SNE )
televisions and Logitech (NASDAQ: LOGI ) set-top boxes, that lets users search
for television shows. Results come from the web, broadcast and the users cable
service in equal measure. Google TV was, at release, a complete failure, savaged
by critics, ignored by consumers and bombed by content providers like News Corp.
(NASDAQ: NWS ), who blocked the platform from accessing its web-based content.
The new Google TV update, announced by Google on Friday , looks to remedy many
of the basic problems that plagued it in 2010. Improvements include a
streamlined user interface that doesnt obscure shows or movies, as well as a
superior search feature that pulls results from services like Netflix (NASDAQ:
NFLX ), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN ) and Time Warner s (NYSE: TWX ) HBO Go. The new
Google TV also supports the Android App Market a feature that should enthuse
the huge population of Android-powered smartphone users that would like to enjoy
the same entertainment at home. The most significant feature of the update,
however, is the changes it brings to YouTube. YouTube content is emphasized in
Google TVs revamped search tools, but the YouTube app itself has been rebuilt
for viewing on HD television sets. As Venture Beat s Devindra Hardawar wrote on
Sunday, Google is going to closely tie its new, original YouTube content to
Google TV content it has invested some $100 million into.
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