Google TV is truly amazing.
I’ve had mine for four months now, and I can easily say it changes the way you interact with your television.
Its seamless merging of television and Internet is a technological wonder.
If a commercial comes on, I can switch from TV viewing to Facebook (and waste my day away stalking people instead) with one click of a button.
If there is ever a dispute about a sports statistic or movie director, I can easily search the Web while not breaking away from the show or movie I’m watching.
Google TV can also stream videos from YouTube and Netflix as well as music from sites like Pandora.
But Google TV is more than just a fancy Web browser.
Let’s say I did a search for “Steve Carell.” Not only would a selection pop up to perform a simple Google search, but Google TV also searches and displays various YouTube videos in which Carell appears.
The device also shows an episode of “The Office” will come on later in the day and even allows me to purchase “Despicable Me” to watch OnDemand.
Unfortunately, there has been one aspect of Google TV that I — along with many others — have found disappointing in its few months out.
Many networks, such as Fox or ABC, broadcast their shows online for those who missed the initial broadcast.
However, it is somewhat of a pain for people to gather around a small computer monitor to watch their favorite shows together.
We all hoped Google TV and its ability to browse the Web could alleviate this issue. Unfortunately, many networks blocked the ability for their shows to be streamed on the device.
Their defense was advertising.
If someone had the ability to simply go online and watch the television show on their big screen, what would be the point of advertisers to pay for no one to watch their commercials?
While this move makes some sense, there are still annoying advertisements when I watch television shows online.
Plus, with many people owning a digital video recorder, the ability to fast forward through commercials is as easy as pushing a button.
Luckily, this wall separating the home network from the television network could be torn down soon with a new proposal from the Federal Communications Commission — AllVid.
“Cable, satellite, or telco video providers would send their signals to a small adapter on the customer’s premises that would present a standard interface to all consumer devices,” FCC Chair Julius Genachowski said last year, according to Ars Technica.
Basically, AllVid can be connected to televisions, computers — essentially anything that shows multichannel video or Internet — therefore merging Internet and television for all.
This proposal seems to be so popular that big names in the tech world have banded together in support and have even come up with a nifty alliance name.
The AllVid Tech Company Alliance comprises Google, Best Buy, Sony, Mitsubishi and TiVo.
These tech companies are aligned to defend the FCC’s new AllVid proposal — hence the name.
The companies involved are no surprise, either.
Currently, the only way to get Google TV is by either buying a specific Sony-brand television or purchasing a Logitech set-top box.
The only way to purchase said TV or set-top box in a brick-and-mortar store is by shopping at Best Buy.
Mitsubishi and TiVo finish off the alliance, but I think they just joined in a “me too” fashion because both companies have been in a decline recently.
With names like this, there could be a dramatic shift in the way consumers experience television and Internet.
Let’s hope this invisible wall will be broken down soon, and cable companies will fall with it.
 
Adam Arinder is a 21-year-old communication studies senior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_aarinder.
 
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Contact Adam Arinder at [email protected]