EXCLUSIVE: The much acclaimed Google TV will not be launched in Australia in the short term according to several sources.According to executives from three Companies that will launch the new platform in the USA, the issue centres on regional coding and the supply of local content.
At the CES Show in January LG, Samsung and Sony were tipped to launch a Google TV offering in Australia in the second half of the year.
Category Marketing Manager Ryan Hodder said that his company was concentrating on a new line up of Smart TVs for 2012 and that a Google TV was not among the range that will be launched in Australia.
Executives at Sony and Samsung also confirmed that no Google TV was planned.
Earlier this week Google lodged a new patent for an Apple Siri like technology that lets users give a voice command through a mobile device to a TV or set top box attached to a TV.
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According to Patently Apple, the patent describes one implementation in which a user asks “When is Seinfeld on?” The software on the television then displays the title, name of the episode, and when it will be on. The patent also relates to users searching for live TV shows and turning the set on, all with their voices.
SmartHouse believes that both Samsung and LG will launch voice command TVs this year in Australia.
Google CEO Larry Page said earlier this month the search engine Company will enter the pay TV market in the USA shortly.
Google, which owns online video giant YouTube, is looking to test an entry into more traditional pay TV markets and could be a threat to Foxtel in Australia in the future.
According to analysts one of the issues with the Australian market is related to Google getting access to local content and International rights for the Australian market.
TV market analyst Craig Moffett said “Google’s decision to enter the video market is perhaps best viewed as an experiment in video delivery and package, but perhaps also as an admission that their original proposal of a broadband-only business model is not economically viable,” Moffett said.
Late last year Google approached several companies with a view to getting global and Australian rights to content. Among the companies that Google approached were Disney, Time Warner, and Discovery Communications.
