Television program

Five 'Television program' stories June 2012 - February 2014

Opinion: Will the spring launch of Amazon/Nexus/Apple TV signal the beginning of the end of live, broadcast TV?

Ben Lovejoy Feb 21 2014 - 8:14 am PT

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Streaming TV is heating-up. Amazon looks set to launch its TV box in March, we’re expecting Apple to announce a new Apple TV box in April, and Google is reputed to be not far behind with a Nexus-branded box.

So-called cord-cutting – people who give up their cable TV subscriptions in favor of streaming content over the web – is growing in popularity. Mobile TV viewing on tablets is increasingly common.

All of which makes me wonder whether we’re witnessing the beginning of the end of live TV … ?
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Google TV update adds Voice Search & ‘PrimeTime’ TV & Movies app, hits LG devices this week

Jordan Kahn Nov 14 2012 - 6:26 am PT

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TNOsB8tRmWU]

Yesterday, we told you about the updated YouTube apps for Google TV and Android that bring a new synced experience, but today Google announced two other big new features for Google TV: Voice Search and PrimeTime.

On the Official Google TV blog, Google walked us through the new features that will roll out to LG devices first starting this week. The most notable new feature is the addition of voice search, allowing users to not only perform Google searches with their voice, but also open apps, press play on a YouTube video, or speak a command, such as “CNN”, to navigate directly to a channel.

Google also explained that questions, such as “how to tie a bow tie,” would bring up instructional videos on YouTube. Part of the new voice search experience is a new visual search results page:

Try “search movies with Jeff Bridges” and see results in our new, more visual search results page.

Google is also introducing a new app called “PrimeTime” in the update that is essentially a rebranding of the old TV & Movies app it added last year:
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Google TV update allows content purchasing from Google Play

Élyse Betters Oct 8 2012 - 10:35 am PT

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The Google TV team pushed out an update today that lets folks buy and rent movies, music and TV shows from Google Play for their Google TV devices.

According to the Google TV blog:

Starting today more of the Google Play experience will come to your Google TV. Google Play Movies, TV shows, and Music will be rolling out to your Google TV over the next few weeks. You’ll be able to buy or rent content directly through the Google Play Store on Google TV, and purchases you’ve made on other devices will also be automatically available on Google TV. Google Play titles will also be discoverable through our TV & Movies app, which brings recommendations for shows and movies available on live TV and apps like Netflix, Amazon, and now Google Play.

Oh, and by the way, this update also allows developers to enable Google Play features like auto-updates, subscription billing, smart app updates, etc. Purchases made on other devices will be automatically available on Google TV, too.

So, the Google TV team is a little behind with this update, but better late than never…right? The update will begin rolling out tonight and extend over the coming weeks.

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Netflix update makes Android app UI more tablet-like for smartphones [Video]

Élyse Betters Sep 24 2012 - 9:13 am PT

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoTGW8QMuPA&feature=player_embedded]

Netflix just announced a new user-interface experience for Android smartphones.

“Compared to the previous version, the new Netflix experience on Android phones is much more immersive,” explained Netflix on its official blog. “It is much closer to the Netflix experience on tablets, which got a major upgrade late last year.”

The updated app now shows more titles and galleries, bringing it up to par with the tablet version, and it features a new browse row at the top of the screen that lets users continue watching content previously started. Just tap the browse menu to access genre lists.

The Instant Queue, which is available in select regions, is now on the Home screen under the Top 10 list, and a new experience area further below displays several rows filled with personalized recommendations. Tap on any title to view more information or double-tap to start instant playback.

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Google TV to stream movies, TV shows, and music from Google Play this summer

Jordan Kahn Jun 28 2012 - 12:50 pm PT

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Google gave an update regarding improvements to the Google Play store coming to Android devices and elsewhere yesterday during Day 1 of its Google I/O keynote. However, information on what was in the works for Google TV was notably left out from its presentations (despite two identical Google Glass skydiver demos from yesterday and today). Today, Google made a blog post confirming features that were announced for Android devices yesterday. A new UI, subscription billing, and movie, music and TV shows will also come to the Google Play store on Google TV this summer:

You already have access to a variety of apps on Google Play, and soon you’ll be able to find movies, TV shows, and music from Google Play to stream on Google TV. Google Play works across devices, so you can rent and start watching a movie on your Google TV, keep watching on your tablet on the move, and finish watching on Google TV. The TV & Movies app will also show Google Play content, adding to the more than 100,000 TV episodes and movies available in the app. The full power of Google Play will be available later this summer on all Google TV devices.

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