The older the crab, the tougher his claws
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Google TV gets hit by more bad news
ASPIRING STREAMING TV PROVIDER Google is not laughing as Viacom has blocked Comedy Central and its other channels the Google TV service.
Google TV is good in theory but the service has been hamstrung by some big media content providers not being willing to offer their network programming. The INQUIRER reported in October that Disney, NBC and Fox were refusing to stream their content to Google TV and now Viacom has also jumped on the anti-Google bandwagon.
According to gtvhub, Viacom has pulled its entire line-up as Comedy Central, MTV, VH1 and Nickelodeon amongst others won't be available any time soon on the Google box. Apparently, if you try streaming that Viacom content from Google TV now you'll get a "sorry, this content is unavailable for your device" message.
We reviewed the D-Link Boxee Box last week, which is an open source connected TV that works in a similar way to Google TV. At the time the Viacom apps were still embedded in the Boxee menu and our reviewer had access to MTV Music and Comedy Central. But because they've blocked Google TV, the big media dinosaurs might block access to their content on Boxee as well.
There are a couple of agent fixes that circumvent the block put on Google TV by Fox and Viacom. However, it's unlikely they'll be out for long before both of the companies disable those fixes.
In a last ditch effort to show anything other than cats doing cute things on Youtube, Google is seeking the rights to show Miramax films. Of course, Google refused to comment on rumour and speculation but if the company can't bag Miramax, it will have only HBO and Turner TV on its side. µ
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What I understood earlier they used silly hacks to prevent users of Google TV to access online content, such as User Agent blocking.
I mean only thing you need to do is change User Agent of GoogleTV box and - oops you can view the content again!
Maybe Google should change the User Agent to match Chrome so it is inseparable.
There exists media type "TV" for CSS stylesheet, so no service really need the user agent.
All of these 'channels' charge cable companies for the right to include their stuff. It simply makes sense that they ask Google for similar monies. Google isn't up for making any such contract, so far.
Why is this so hard (for IT guys, anyway) to understand? go_ogle intends to *use* the content that other corps produce to catapult itself into video almost without expense. Viacom, among others now, ain't crazy enough to go along with that plan.
Wow. Every time I turn around another network is blocking Google TV. Who is left to block?? So far, TV networks Fox, CBS, NBC, ABC, Comedy Central and MTV have all blocked their programming from Google TV, as has Hulu. That's a lot of shows. At this point, they should suspend sales of this NON-product. Why would anyone want to pay $300 for a "TV" box that is blocked from so much programming?? You can get more channel from services like TVDevo.com or others. They're much easier to use, straightforward and carry a lot of TV shows both live and on-demand.
No problem. I stopped going to movie theaters a couple of years ago. It won't break my heart to never see Viacom's crap content ever again.
Anyone who thinks movies and such are more important than the content that *is* available is a fool, and deserves to be parted from his money.
Most computers can connect to a tv and most new ones have hdmi. Why spend money on something you already have? And there's all kinds of free tv on the internment, just take some time to look.