It’s not always easy for the good people of Kansas City. The Chiefs don’t win much, the Royals barely win at all, and you can only eat so much barbecue before you feel a little puny. But at least they might be getting TV service from, of all places, Google. The company has applied for permission to offer Kansas Citians (Citizens?) a video service that would more or less replace traditional cable TV and package it up with internet access that it already plans to offer later this year.
Google could launch its TV service as soon as a month or two from now, according to a media executive currently involved in negotiations to license channels to the service. The service would offer subscribers live TV, as well as on-demand and online access to TV channels, similar to services from major cable operators, this person said.
While the plan for now is restricted to Kansas City, this person said Google had discussed expanding it to other markets that Verizon Communications Inc. hasn’t entered with its FiOS fiber-optic TV service. It remains unclear whether Google intends to do so, but it would have that right under at least some of the deals it is currently negotiating with TV channels, this person said.
Now, let’s think about what might be happening here. Google getting into home Internet AND what would essentially be cable TV but without that cable coming out of your wall. Suddenly, all those frustrating efforts to make Google TV don’t sound entirely as stupid.
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