TVSquad

It looks like Google is taking a step towards having a television station all its own. The Internet search company will be helping NBC Universal sell advertisements for some of NBC's cable stations (including Sci Fi, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC, Sleuth and Chiller).

This is yet another step in the inevitable merger of television and the Internet. It wouldn't surprise me if in the future, Google either acquires a television network (it could be NBC or some other one) or starts one all its own. It's certainly ubiquitous enough in Internet advertising to break into another medium (sort of like Microsoft's strategy).

It does say something that NBC is turning over some of its ad sales to a third party. As the article states, it could be a way of attracting businesses who only advertise on the Internet. It could also be a way of streamlining their business model so they can concentrate on producing shows in a more cost-effective manner (I knew that MBA would come in handy some day).

Along with running three shows on Fox (Family Guy, American Dad and The Cleveland Show), Seth McFarlane is also getting into online content development. Even worse, he's doing it for a Fox competitor.

McFarlane will be developing fifty two-minute animated vignettes for Seth McFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy which will be distributed via Google's AdSense network (a competitor for Fox's Myspace).

The article goes into the corporate issues behind this strange move and asks a few good questions: why didn't Fox get a first-look offer at this idea? If they did, why did they pass on it? It seems inexpensive enough to produce and given the popularity of the creator, it seems a no-brainer.

According to an article in Variety, Google is paying Nielsen for demographic data regarding certain TV shows. Google dominates the Internet ad market to the point where billions of small sites use Google ads and it looks like they're trying to break into the TV business.

It's a logical business move on Google's part if they want to expand their business into more mainstream media. There has been a slow merger of television and Internet entertainment over the years (the most recent example being the episode download sites of every major network) and Google knows this and probably wants a piece of the action.

Perhaps Google will even get its own television show in the future. The Google Channel. What sort of television shows would be on it? I bet it'll have fantastic commercials, targeted specifically to the individual viewer. Or maybe not.

We've all seen the wary and tired look celebrities get when they give depositions and testimony; they all look like they'd rather be getting a prostate exam than be in that chair answering questions from a lawyer. If Google has their way, we'll be seeing both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert with that look on their face.

According to C|Net News, Google and Viacom are in the discovery phase of the media conglomerate's $1 billion infringement lawsuit against YouTube, which was purchased by Google last year; in that discovery phase, the hosts of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, both on Viacom's Comedy Central, are on Google's list of people they want to have deposed in the case.

Fascinating piece in the L.A. Times this weekend, about how many old TV shows are showing up on YouTube. And when I say "old" I don't mean All in the Family or Charlie's Angels. I'm talking about stuff from the 40s and 50s, like Captain Midnight, Rocky Jones, Space Ranger, old Dinah Shore shows, and old commercials.

It's great to watch these early shows online (you can watch shows from the 70s, 80s, 90s, and today on our own In2TV), but is it legal for people to just put these shows online?

Usually I don't mention technical stuff on this blog, mostly because such things cause my brain to freeze. Seriously, I can barely operate a manual can opener without crying.

Anyway, our pals over at the Unofficial Apple Weblog and Endgadget have been covering the All Things Digital conference, and one of their reports caught my eye: the new Apple TV will include an option to watch YouTube video right on your TV screen.

I don't watch game shows, except for Jeopardy. I actually consider Jeopardy more of a quiz show because it requires some actual intelligence in order to win. That's not to say guessing the price of a bag of sponges or calling out one of the letters of the alphabet doesn't require a certain level of intelligence. I'm sure Wheel of Fortune has to weed out a lot of unqualified candidates:

M.C.: Okay, Steve, pick a letter.

Steve: Abraham Lincoln!

Viacom was just the beginning. Sure, the parent company of MTV and Comedy Central sued the bejesus out of YouTube for $1 billion in copyright infringement. But did you really think other entities would stay out of the action?

The Football Association Premier League is threatening legal action, as is the country of Thailand.

The Premiere League is ticked off at YouTube for the usual copyright infringing stuff. They say the video-sharing site is violating the league's distribution rights of soccer matches, and have set up a website to encourage other copyright holders to join their suit against YouTube's parent company Google.

As for Thailand, they're upset about video clips that made fun of the country's king. Thailand banned access to YouTube, and the site eventually agreed to block pages with the offensive videos from Thai users. While it seemed like that would be the end of the story, a Thai official now says the country plans to file a suit against Google.

Maybe this wasn't the best time for Google to start paying independent video producers. They might need to save the money.

The Boston Phoenix makes an interesting suggestion on one of their blogs: maybe NBC should give the Late Night slot to Demetri Martin in 2009 when Conan O'Brien takes over for Jay Leno. Hmmm...

In this Daily Show clip, Martin explains the whole copyright controversy involving Viacom, Google, and YouTube. It's a great clip, with Martin asking at one point if viewers are watching him right now on YouTube (yes, it's a YouTube clip). He even freezes his body and says "buffering." Funny stuff. Both videos after the jump (YouTube version and Comedy Central's, just in case...)

Remember how Viacom asked YouTube to remove 100,000 videos? Then after Google takes down as many videos as it can, Viacom sues the company for $1 billion, saying Google is profiting from Viacom content including clips from The Daily Show and The Colbert Report?

Right, so now, about a week later, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has turned around and sued Viacom, claiming that one of the videos in question was actually a parody of The Colbert Report, and protected under fair use. The video, produced by MoveOn parodies both Stephen Colbert's schtick, and MoveOn's strategy of using online petitions to effect social change.

I'd embed the video, but as I've pointed out, it's no longer up on YouTube. You can, however, still check it out at Falsiness.org.

We all knew Viacom wasn't too happy with Google and YouTube. Last month the media company asked Google to remove 100-thousand videos, and Google took efforts to do.

Now Viacom is seeking $1 billion from Google for unauthorized use of Viacom content. Viacom claims that nearly 160,000 of its copyrighted cliips have been uploaded to YouTube and viewed over 1.5 billion times.

In a press release, Viacom says the decision to sue Google follows a series of "unproductive negotiation." Viacom also accuses YouTube of building "a lucrative business out of exploiting the devotion of fans to others' creative works."

1 in 3 people who say they frequently watch YouTube videos say that they watch less TV because of their online video habit. That's according to a recent poll by Harris Interactive.

Two thirds of frequent YouTube viewers say they're sacrificing some other activity to watch videos, which shouldn't be surprising because it's hard to watch a video while you're reading a book. The number one activity folks say they give up to spend time on YouTube is visiting other websites, with television ranking second on the sacrificed activity list.

I suppose my penchant for thrift store t-shirts with odd logos puts me out of the Izod target market. Maybe that's why I got all the way through this commercial having no idea what it was advertising. I actually thought it was going to be a Nike ad, what with the golfer, and the Tiger-esque red.

It was a pretty slick ad with some gorgeous photography, but suffers from only working for people already familiar with the brand. Some kind of a tag line at the end. "Izod, sportswear for men" or some such, would have gone a long way. You can't expect everyone watching to go google your company to find out what it is you do.

Remember all the ads you saw at last year's Super Bowl? No? Well, me neither, until I found Google's massive archive of them that is. They have what looks like every ad from Super Bowl XL, The Bud Light Secret Fridge, Bud On The Roof, Bud Save Yourself (with the Bear), Hummer Monsters, Mission Impossible III, Nationwide Gondola, Jessica Simpson's Pizza Hut commercial, Taco Bell's Good to Go, Sprint's Locker Room commercial, my favorite, (the one where the golfer claims his phone has crime deterrent, then throws it at the other guy's head to prove it) and many others. If you want a Super Bowl themed trip down commercial memory lane, you got your wish.