Will Google TV revolutionize the industry for African-Americans? Some experts say yes. Google TV is being created by Google along with Sony, Logitech and Intel. Together, they will produce a Web-content platform called Google TV. It will be available as a set-top box or as part of a Web-capable television. Google TV would be based on Google’s mobile operating system, Android, and would also include a version of the Chrome browser for using Web applications like Twitter or Picasa, Google’s online photo sharing and storage service. The project was announced by Google and its partners in May and will be available by fall to subscribers of all cable and satellite providers.
It will be linked to your television by utilizing a single box, which will act as a combination between a DVR and a hard drive connected to the Internet. It will allow users to browse the Internet on their TV, schedule the recording of shows from users´mobile phones, push websites from other Internet devices on to the TV, interact with applications from Android phones, among other features. Via an integration with YouTube, users can create their own personal channel called YouTube Leanback.
“Google TV is a platform that combines TV and the Web. It uses search engines to give you an easy and fast way to navigate to television channels, websites, shows and movies,” explains Google TV spokesperson Gina Weakley.
So how will this open up the TV platform for African-Americans? “Google TV and the Internet, in general, present a major shift in the way consumers are watching television,” notes Jeff Clanagan, CEO Codeblack Entertainment, the first independent, vertically integrated African-American owned film studio, engaged in feature film production and distribution, worldwide DVD/digital assets distribution, urban market consulting and production of programs for television broadcast and syndication. “Once Google successfully moves the Internet to your home television screen, it will open the doors for African-American content, producers and content distributors in general to create their own channels and potentially circumvent traditional network distribution and ownership.”
As the platform opens up, the opportunity for increased negative images of African-Americans could be present, though Clanagan sees otherwise.”I don’t anticipate more negative images of African-Americans,” he says.”You can go on YouTube and find enough negative images to last a lifetime. The content just shifts to the TV screen.”
