Google to trial pay-TV
November 4, 2011
Google is considering delivering a subscription TV service over its experimental fibre-to-the-home network in Kansas City, next year. The company has held exploratory talks with Walt Disney, Time Warner and Discovery Communications about carrying TV channels on the test network, according to the WSJ.
Google selected both Kansas City for the build out of an FTH net delivering speeds of 1 Gigabit per second. The pick came after a year-long competition soliciting applications from municipalities, an offer that generated nearly 1,100 submissions.
The Kansas City test network is expected to go live in early 2012 and Google will try to identify and develop applications that can take advantage of ultra-high-speed Internet.
Google in September hired former cable-TV executive Jeremy Stern, who has led the discussions with cable programmers.