Google Video Store Announced

acid06 writes "Engadget and BusinessWeek covers Larry Page's talk at CES regarding the much anticipated Google Video Store. The rumours proved to be true and they're really going online with CBS to sell commercial-free episodes of their series. Deals with NBA, Sony BMG and Greencine.com were also announced." From the BusinessWeek article: "The video providers have the option of offering content on a download-to-own or download-to-rent basis. In a sign that content owners will likely pursue different approaches through Google Video, the National Basketball Association will sell broadcasts of its games one day after the event for $3.95. Meanwhile, public television staple Charlie Rose will post his interviews the day after a broadcast, allowing a free streaming for the first 24 hours then making it downloadable afterward for 99 cents each. Meanwhile, CBS is selling episodes of its popular 'CSI' and 'Survivor' series at the standard iTunes price of $1.99 per download."

Comments

Now we know

[LiquidCoooled]

We now know the answer to the previous slash article:

If DVD Is Dead, What's Next?

google Video store!

Welcome...

[Spytap]

Welcome to the REAL cable a-la-carte, where I don't even need a connection to watch my favorite shows, just download them for 2 bucks a pop. If you normally watch 5 or 6 shows with any regularity, over a full 22 episode season, that comes out to 264 bucks a year. How much are you paying for cable yearly?

Re:Welcome...

[prockcore]

If you normally watch 5 or 6 shows with any regularity, over a full 22 episode season, that comes out to 264 bucks a year. How much are you paying for cable yearly?

Definitely more than that, but I also have about 15 shows in my TiVo Season Pass list. Not to mention all the little shows on History Channel and Discovery that I watch randomly.

I also get them from the cable company at 720x480, not 320x240.

It's a far better deal to buy those shows on DVD anyway.. it's cheaper, you get extras like behind the scenes and commentary, and it's better resolution.

Re:Welcome...

[msobkow]

Err, you miss the point.

Cable providers get the majority of their feeds via digital satellite nowadays, not analogue. They run it through hardware that reduces the MPEG blocking artifacts and blast it down their analogue pipes. In some cases, the digital-analogue conversions are done rather close to your house with a digital main trunk.

Of course the average consumer doesn't realize that, so they make arguments like yours, thinking it's similar to the old vinyl vs. CD argument. I remember vinyl audiophiles insisting their records sounded better than CDs even for groups that were using CD-rate digital mastering back in the '80s. They simply refused to accept that the "improvement" was signal smoothing that is now done in the digital domain by high-end audio players.

beyond American shores?

[nighty5]

There is a whole world out there, and I just hope that Google comes to the party and starts selling videos beyond American shores .

We're dying out here in Australia, our local content providers suck arse. They swabble over stations, muck about the times, cut shows mid season, cancel whole seasons, are usually up to 18 months behind the US in delivery. Its beyond contempt.

We are entering a brave new world in video delivery content, finally, a medium that puts the consumer in charge of the loungeroom. Lets only hope that offshore countries are also in for the ride.

I have an uneasy feel about this

[Psionicist]

TFA doesn't say anything about DRM on the videos you can buy. I quote:

ne of the more interesting aspects of the Video Store, however, is the fact that they're also making their non-copy-protected content available for download DRM-free encoded for the iPod and PSP (though there's also no word on what it is we're going to have to deal with in terms of DRM on purchased Google Video content).

According to Wall Street Journal ( http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB11364381456 4838423-wGEG4V5bN3Q0Pm7bvt0ceWXfYjQ_20060112.html? mod=blogs ):

Some details of Google's online video service remain unclear, such as how much content owners might charge consumers to download their videos. Google last year had said it planned to allow content owners to charge for videos, but it hadn't activated that feature. Interest in delivering video over the Internet has surged since October, when Apple began offering downloads of popular TV shows through a partnership with Walt Disney Co. Google has developed its own digital-rights-management software to protect downloaded videos from piracy.

So Google is now creating their own DRM. And they have a partnership with Walt Disney. Anyone else feel a conflicting interest here? Yeah, business is business, but I really liked the "do no evil"-mantra. At least I liked Googles _taste_. Buying AOL of all companies AND creating DRM is not what I'd expect from Google.

On the other hand, Apple did it, and most people still like Apple. It's a sad world when the best we can do is hope for the lesser of all evils to win...

Re:What about Google Pack?

[Anonymous Coward]

Info here: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/

Can people please stop linking to the front page of weblogs? It makes the link useless after a day or two, when the next article is posted on the weblog. See that link that says "Permalink"? It's a fundamental part of weblogs. That's what you link to. It stops linkrot.

Re:Inevitable

[222]

Wow, I actually RTFA.

"Besides programming from CBS, the NBA and Charlie Rose, the list of other video material that will be sold through Google includes: old episodes from "I Love Lucy," "The Twilight Zone," and "The Brady Bunch;" music videos from Sony BMG; and historic video from Getty Images."
There is a bit of fuss over a new form of DRM, but It certainly isn't mandatory on the distributors end.

I'm so happy about the twilight zone episodes I dont know what to think!~

NBA

[Paradise Pete]

National Basketball Association will sell broadcasts of its games one day after the event for $3.95.

Day-old basketball for four bucks. Oh yeah, that'll be a million-seller.

Re:What about Google Pack?

[I(rispee_I(reme]

For those of you who don't know, the "Google Video Player" is apparently a browser plugin based on the VLC media player.