Google's three-screen strategy coming together

In January, I wrote about Google's inevitable TV strategy here and here. Today the New York Times reports on plans involving Intel (SoC), Sony (TV, STB), Logitech (remote control) and Dish (test).

For widgets, either Yahoo! or Metrological could be contracted. Yahoo! seems an unlikely Google partner, after the Microsoft search deal.

Connected TV: widgets versus the remote control

To follow up on the previous post, Skype has already added the third screen: after the computer and mobile devices, it's now the TV. But what is at least as striking in both the LG and the Panasonic release, connected to Skype's launch of a HDTV client, is the implied reference to widgets.

LG offers the NetCast Entertainment Access technology (launched a year ago), basically an on-screen menu (controled via remote control). Panasonic has Viera Cast technology (launched two years ago), offering the same functionality. Viera Cast appears to be a widget channel of sorts, already providing access to Amazon VOD, YouTube, Picasa and Bloomberg News.

The big question now is: who will be a winner in this arms race to get the TV connected? Here are the categories competing:

• Independent box manufacturers (Boxee, Roku, Sezmi, Syabas, etc.)
• Established STB makers (Humax, )
• TV manufacturers (LG, Panasonic, Samsung)
• Software makers (ANT, ActiveVideo, Oregan Networks, Metrological Media Innovations)
• Content aggregators (ZapMyTV)

On the side, to include a few other initiatives, there are similar movements going on at the same time:

• Connected TV, or HbbTV (hybrid broadband broadcast TV): bring web-based content (including catch-up TV and VOD) to the TV through a broadband connection.
• Catch-up TV: bring TV-based content to the web (and back to the TV again through a Connected TV platform).
• TV Everywhere, DECE, KeyChest: put video/TV-based content in the cloud for consumption on any device via a broadband connection.
• Place-shifting: distribute home content (including live TV) over any broadband connection (Sling).

And which could be the ingredients to success?

• Good functionality: this requires a solid processor.
• Ease of use: the answer to this is simple: widgets (or whatever people call them, e.g. Popapps) and/or the remote control (which could morph into a keyboard of sorts, such as the new Boxee/D-Link product).
• True HbbTV, i.e. true integration of broadband and broadcast content. Here lies the key: this is what Connected TV sets apart form media players, i.e. better services and an opportunity for the entire value chain (including broadcasters, hardware/software makers, advertisers, content producers).
• Relationships with established players in the TV ecosystem: partnering with cable companies, STB and TV manufacturers will give distribution a boost.
• Content: a full widget gallery.
• Low pricing: this speaks against boxes, because the silicon may as well be built into TV sets directly.

All the softwaremakers mentioned above appear to be betting on a multi-distribution strategy. Take Metrological: it has its first box made, but it is ready to move into the TV. Oregan was involved in last month's Marks & Spencer TV. Etc.