Google axes Tivo

Watch shows through Google TV | This is Money

GOOGLE is to begin broadcasting television programmes over the internet. The search engine has already signed up an American channel to provide programmes for Google TV and is in talks with the BBC to broadcast its shows as well.

The search engine hopes to build up a massive online database of programmes that can be searched and watched from any computer, with users able to search for episodes of any show from broadcasters who sign up to the service.

It will also let British viewers watch hit television shows from America months before they are broadcast in this country.

Search engine expert Danny Sullivan said: 'Google wants to become the world's biggest video recorder, and they are meeting with all of the major broadcasters to make it happen. It could mean we can see episodes of US shows like Lost before they are broadcast here, and also catch previous episodes in a series we may have missed.'

What do they put in the water at Google? For this to work they must be planning on an immense amount of capacity. I wonder if they'll do something I (and many others!) thought about years ago -- statistical start times. So if you only stream from the repository when there are enough approximately simultaneous users to justify. With enough user and a bit of delay and a bit of client side caching you can synchronize your video streams -- so much less bandwidth demand.