Google mulls offering paid TV services

Google is mulling a plan to offer paid cable-TV services to consumers, a move that could flare up a new wave of competition in the traditional TV business, U.S. media reported on Friday. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Internet search giant has considered adding video and phone services to a previously announced high-speed Internet service in two U.S. cities. People briefed on the plan told the newspaper that Google has discussed distributing major TV channels from companies like Walt Disney, Time Warner and Discovery Communications as part of the video service. The discussions were still exploratory and no final decisions have been made, said the report. Google said it does not comment on rumor or speculation. Whether it is a speculation or not, the reported plan reflects possible innovation and revolution for the traditional TV experience with the growth of high-speed Internet, which may become another lucrative battlefield all the technology giants will fight for. With the growth of home and mobile broadband services, more and more video contents become available for rental, purchase and streaming on desktop computers, tablet computers and smartphones. Competitions on the video streaming market have been increasingly fierce this year, among such services as Apple's iTunes, Amazon's Prime Video, NetFlix, Hulu Plus and Vudu, which is owned by Wal-Mart. Cable companies, facing a grim picture of being kicked out in the decades to come, also fought back with their own mobile apps and online streaming services. A new Steve Jobs biography revealed that the late Apple co- founder had been working on an Apple television. "It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud. It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it," Jobs told biographer Walter Isaacson in the book. Some analysts said the introduction of an Apple smart TV could bring a 100-billion-U.S.-dollar revenue opportunity for the Cupertino, California-based company. Last Friday, Google-owned YouTube announced a plan to launch 100 channels on its site with original professionally produced content. A new version of Google TV was also launched with new search tools that expand results from shows on cable to web-based services like NetFlix and Amazon.