Google and Yahoo Announce New Video Tools
January 07, 2006
Las Vegas, NV - Yahoo! Announces Launch of Yahoo! Go TV; Makes it Easy for Consumers to Enjoy Yahoo! Services on their Television
Yahoo! Inc. announced the upcoming launch of Yahoo! Go TV, a new product that will bring the power and depth of the Internet to the PC-connected television screen. Yahoo! says that Go TV will seamlessly bring consumers' community, as well as content such as digital photos, movie playtimes at local theaters and other personalized Yahoo! services onto the PC-connected television experience.
The new service is designed to allow consumers to take content from their personal computer or from the web and extend it onto the biggest screen in their home. Yahoo! Go TV integrates consumers Internet services, including video search and photos, into the television. Yahoo! will also look to make the company's music offerings available through this new service. Yahoo! reports that Go TV will also improve consumers' ability to navigate and find all the content available on their television. For example, consumers will be able to use their remote control to see what's playing at their local theater or share pictures from a recent vacation with friends, all on their television screen.
The company expects to launch Yahoo! Go TV in the coming months.
"Yahoo! Go TV integrates the home television viewing experience with the leading Internet services that tens of millions of consumers already know and depend on," said Marco Boerries, senior vice president, Connected Life, Yahoo!. "This is about making Internet technology work for people in their daily lives. We want to give consumers everything they love about the web -- the open platform and the ability to find and view what they want, when they want it -- on their PC-connected television."
Key features currently planned for the new Yahoo! Go TV service include:
-- Yahoo! Video Search --
-- Quickly search, find and view Internet videos using
Yahoo!'s industry leading video search technology
-- Yahoo! Photos and Flickr --
-- View personalized photo slide shows on the television
-- Access images saved on Yahoo! Photos or the local hard
drive
-- Easily find and view friends' albums shared online
-- My Yahoo! --
-- Access to personalized information and services
-- Yahoo! Movies --
-- Search for playtimes at local theaters or watch movie
trailers
-- Find movies from the DVR, television or DVD player
-- Yahoo! TV --
-- Full Personal Video Recorder (PVR) functionality,
including trick play features and access to the PC for
storage of content
-- Full TV tuning capabilities to control your TV channels
Yahoo! Go TV will be available to consumers through an easy to install, lightweight and downloadable application that will run on any PC connected to a TV and work with any remote control.
WEVA Industry News, last May, reported on Yahoo’s new online video search tool was taken out of beta phase and available for individuals to post video clips. Read that report at:
WEVA Industry News Report on Yahoo Video
To learn more about Yahoo! Go TV go to:
Yahoo! Go TV
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Google Video Store To Show News and Historical Videos from ITN, Charlie Rose Interviews; New Titles Will Be Added Everyday
Google Inc. announced the planned opening of the Google Video Store, what the company calls the first open video marketplace enabling consumers to buy and rent a wide range of video content from a major television network, a professional sports league, cable programmers, independent producers and film makers. This collection of videos will include prime-time and classic hits from CBS, a full slate of NBA games from this season and outstanding performances from the past, music videos from Sony BMG, Charlie Rose interviews as well as news and historical content from ITN and new titles being added everyday.
"Google video will let you watch lots of high quality video on the web for the first time. You can search and browse, and we make it fast and easy for you to watch," said Larry Page, Google's co-founder and president, Products. "For video producers and anyone with a video camera, Google Video will give you a platform to publish to the entire Google audience in a fast, free and seamless way."
Available soon, people who visit the Google Video homepage will be able to browse listings of video by category from the store or search Google's entire collection of videos by entering keywords into the search box.
"This is yet another exciting platform in which CBS can leverage its market-leading content to a whole new audience," said Leslie Moonves, President and CEO, CBS Corporation. "Making our programming accessible to the Google Video Store guarantees our shows significant new exposure to millions of users who are likely to access this Web service and who may not be traditional TV viewers. As the industry's most prolific generator of popular TV content, it's only natural that CBS would partner with Google on this service, which is destined to become one of the web's most popular destinations."
CBS's current primetime hits will include CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, NCIS, Survivor and The Amazing Race. Library classics will include I Love Lucy, The Brady Bunch, The Twilight Zone, MacGyver, Have Gun Will Travel, Mannix, My Three Sons, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. All CBS programs will be presented commercial free.
Google Video will also feature NBA games from this season and some of the greatest individual performances in NBA history. Marking the first time NBA fans can purchase full NBA contests on the Web, each NBA game for the rest of this season, including the NBA Playoffs and The Finals, will be available to fans in its entirety 24 hours after the contest's conclusion. In addition, the highest scoring games of several of the NBA's best players will be available including Kobe Bryant's 62 point performance in three quarters vs. Dallas last month.
"Google's innovative presentation of information and content is revolutionizing the way people access media," said NBA Commissioner David Stern. "In the increasingly competitive and rapidly changing world of entertainment, Google Video provides us with a new way to deliver the NBA experience to our fans when and how they want it."
According to the company additional highlights of Google's video collection will include:
-- Music videos from Sony BMG. The line-up of launch videos includes offerings from some of Sony BMG's global superstar artists, including Christina Aguilera, Beyonce, Kenny Chesney, Destiny's Child, Kelly Clarkson, Alicia Keys, Lil' Flip, Jessica Simpson, Shakira, System of a Down, Switchfoot, Usher, and many more.
-- Feature Length Independent Films from Greencine.com. Including works by legendary Polish director Andrzej Wajda (Zemsta), documentary filmmaker Ted Bonnitt (Mau Mau Sex Sex) and independent actor/director Caveh Zahedi (In the Bathtub of the World).
-- Historic, news and educational footage from ITN. This material ranges from coverage of key events in 2005 such as the Pope John Paul II's death, back to a recording of the 1896 coronation of Tsar Nicholas II - one of the earliest known pieces of moving imagery.
-- Charlie Rose interviews. Including interviews with Henry Kissinger, Oliver Stone, Quentin Tarantino, Martha Stewart, Martin Scorsese, Harrison Ford, Dan Rather, Charles M. Schulz, Steve Jobs, Jay Leno, Tom Brokaw, and others.
-- Cartoon classics from Classic Media. Featuring many of the world's most famous animated series such as "Felix the Cat," "Casper The Friendly Ghost," and "Rocky and Bullwinkle."
-- Children's educational programming from Clearvue. Educational video topics vary from teen education on tattoos to explanations about the workings of the human brain.
-- Cartoon classics from Classic Media and children's educational programming from Clearvue. Google Video also offers many of the world's most famous animated series such as "Felix the Cat," "Casper The Friendly Ghost," and "Rocky and Bullwinkle." Educational video topics from Clearvue vary from teen education on tattoos to explanations about the workings of the human brain.
-- Clips from Getty Images' Archive Films Collection. A diverse collection of short clips that capture personalities, moments and eras throughout history - selected from vintage newsreels and educational film, as well as contemporary news and events from around the world.
The company says there will be thousands of titles for sale in the Google Video Store with more titles added everyday. The list of content producers will also include a broad range of entertainment and educational partners including among others, Blue Highways TV, CareTALK, Fashion TV, Here! TV, HDNet, Hilarious Picks, Image Entertainment, iWatchNow.com, Kantola Productions, MediaZone, Plum TV, Porchlight Entertainment, SOFA Entertainment, Teen Kids, Trinity Broadcasting Network, WGBH, Wheels TV, and Wilderness Film India Ltd.
Launched early last year, the company says that Google Video is the first open video marketplace where any video producer, large or small, can upload their content and distribute it for free or at a price. Video prices are set by the content provider with no minimum or maximum dollar-limit. Owners also have the choice to offer their content with or without copy protection - enabling them greater control over its distribution.
Additionally, content from Google Video can be viewed with a new player that can be downloaded for free from any playback page. It offers all the traditional playback options (play, pause, stop...) as well as a "thumbnail" navigation feature that enables users to browse through an entire video, or frames at a time, with a simple click of their mouse.
Google adds that iPod and Sony Playstation Portable users will also be able to download and watch any non-copy-protected content from Google Video, and even get it specially optimized for playback on their devices. Google Video Store will be available throughout the world, however purchasing premium content in the Google Video Store will only be available in the U.S.
WEVA Industry News first reported on Google Video Upload Program last July. Read that report at:
WEVA Industry News Report on Google Video Upload Program
To learn more about Google Video go to:
Google Video
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