Google's TV Service Could Be Much More Disruptive than Apple TV

Google may be working on a TV service that would stream live channels directly through the Internet, instead of through a partnership with a cable company, like Apple TV. The result would upend the cable television system.

Google, like Apple, already has a TV service that provides streaming on demand content - like Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon - to televisions, but according to a report from the New York Times, Google is working on something much, much more disruptive. If Google is successful, you could be subscribing to TV live channels - along with all of the on demand and other content that streaming services provide - all without paying a single bill to cable companies (though, you'd probably pay for it someway, either directly to Google and/or through advertising).

Google isn't the only company working on cutting out the cable company middleman: Sony and Microsoft are also keen on the idea, as is Intel, which is expected to release a set-top box with camera-based viewer recognition and gesture controls, similar to Microsoft's upcoming Xbox One console (which also integrates streaming and live TV, though in the non-disruptive cable-integrative way that has so far been standard). Meanwhile Apple is working on adding more content, like the recently added HBO GO streaming service, and is rumored to be working on a "premium" Apple TV subscription, whcih would cut out advertising. However, Apple TV's model still requires subscriptions to cable companies if users want to stream live content (and Apple has only just recently been adding live television to Apple TV). Cutting out the cable companies entirely, like Google and Intel want to do, and using channel subscriptions, will require media companies that own the channels to support the new model - called an "over the top" service, because it streams on top of broadband Internet connections.

So far, channel owners have been wary of leaving the old bulk subscription cable model.

But according to some of the Times' anonymous sources familiar with negotiations between Google and media companies, "Google has pitched an easy-to-use subscription service that would stream a bundle of live channels as well as on-demand shows, replacing the cable bundles that most households now purchase." However, Google's previous attempts to accomplish this television coup in 2011 failed, though broadband speeds and availability have only increased since then. Intel has reportedly also been blocked by cable companies in its bid to set up a similar service.

If Google or Intel succeeds, don't expect to be able to pay a couple dollars a month to get one or two, only, of your favorite cable channels. According to the Wall Street Journal report on Google's media company negotiations, in order to get adequately low priced rates for television channels, "Google and other companies will almost certainly have to accept the standard programming bundles that cable and satellite operators pay for," meaning that you'd get your ESPN and Comedy Central, but you'd probably have to pay for QVC and Hallmark as well.

Still, if plans succeed, you can bet the interface for Google's television service will have a much smoother software interface than any cable company's slow, annoying, crashy box.