Google And Intel To Launch Social TV Platform

by Laurie Sullivan, May 17, 2010, 10:47 PM

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Google and Intel will announce a Smart TV platform that supports an Android-based operating system at the Google I/O conference this week in San Francisco, according to reports.

Intel's new Atom processor will run a new version of Google Android dubbed Dragonpoint. It will support devices made by Sony and other set-top box and technology makers like Samsung and Motorola, and possibly Cisco, says Trip Chowdhry, managing director at Global Equities Research.

Chowdhry calls Smart TV a "social Internet computing platform." The targeted generation for this platform expects real-time interaction, community and personalization. And they will get it, he says.

The Smart TV platform will initially offer between three and five services, ranging from the ability to play high-definition YouTube videos to sharing and creating channel content between others who also have access to the technology. Chowdhry believes the platform will plug directly into Google Checkout, AdWords and AdSense. "There will probably be two monetization models that support advertising," he says. "These would include advertising and a subscription-based model."

Chowdhry described the advertising services as in-video and contextual ads, and pre- and post-roll. The subscription model would support streaming video rentals from YouTube. About 70% of the revenue generated will belong to the publisher, 30% to Google and 10% to the network provider supporting the service -- for example, Comcast or Time Warner.

"Two people will have the ability to watch the same video stream together, though they may not reside in the same household," Chowdhry says, admitting that this description remains pure speculation. Google has not confirmed the platform or the features.

Intel chief executive offer Paul Otellini, who sits on Google's board, told analysts last week that this will become the "the biggest single change in television" since transitioning to color. NewTeeVee points to a Sony patent application for a network media player with user-generated playback controls, filing date Dec. 4, 2009.

Chowdhry says television lost many young people as an audience to video on the Web because they can't interact with their friends as they watch TV shows, but they can on their computer. Taking the concept of interaction from the Web and sticking it on the television could change that and bring back some of the lost advertising, he says.

Google isn't the first to try this. Apple TV didn't work because it wasn't social. It isolated those who used it. The Smart TV platform will become successful because it extends the behavior of people on the Internet from the PC to the TV.

The platform will make TV relevant to the demographics that deserted it, Chowdhry says, estimating that we will see it in time for the 2010 holidays.

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