Steve Bryant

NPR’s “To the Point” program is airing right now on WYNC, NPR’s public radio station in New York, and the subject is Viacom v. Google. A very lopsided argument, since there are no reps from Google, and actual producers of YouTube content. Guests: Jordan Levin, former WB Network CEO and one of the brains behind […]

I’m not a big Google fanboy. I don’t tend to prosyletize their apps. That’s not my job. But from time to time I’m struck by just how good some of Google’s products are. And so today, looking at a new online office suite called Peepel, I’m reminded of why Google Docs and Spreadsheets are so […]

After months of speculation over its entry into the television advertising market, Google announced Monday evening that it would sell ads on the 125 channels of Echostar’s satellite DISH Network. Under the agreement, advertisers will bid on ad spots using Google’s AdWords automated auction system. Google will analyze the anonymous data culled from the Dish […]

Google has entered the bidding for online advertising company DoubleClick, according to the Wall Street Journal. Google’s entry comes as the bidding price exceeds $2 billion, a price point which may force Microsoft to reconsider how badly it wants to acquire the company. Yahoo and AOL are both reported to be interested in acquiring DoubleClick, […]

Google has requested a 30-day extension to reply to Viacom’s complaint because Google has yet to retain counsel, Google Watch has learned. Viacom agreed to the extension in a letter addressed to Judge Louis L. Stanton from an attorney representing Viacom. Google is now required to respond by May 2, 2007. Google representatives did not […]

Last night I moderated a panel for the International Radio and Television Society (IRTS) called “Traditional media meets the digital challenge.” Among the panelists was Michael Steib, who recently left NBCU — where he founded NBBC — for Google, where he is the director of television advertising. Steib, having only been at Google for two […]

LG announced it will pre-install Google mobile apps, including Maps and Gmail, on milions of LG phones starting in 2Q 2007. The phones will be sold in North America, Europe and Asia. This is Google’s second partnership with a handset maker this year; the search giant partnered with Samsung in January. Google also has several […]

YouTube will publicly launch a version of its site for mobile users just as soon as its exclusive contract with Verizon expires, reports Katie Fehrenbacher at GigaOm. The new site is an experiment to understand user response, and will offer about 800 preselected clips. YouTube partnered with Verizon Wireless in November of last year and […]

Google may be all about automation, but it understands the benefits of user-created data. Hence, the new polls functionality in Orkut. Google has now made it possible for Orkut users to post and respond to poll questions posted by other users. Danny Sullivan wonders if this is a roundabout way of reintroducing Google Answers, which […]

NewTeeVee contributor Robert Young wrote an interesting post yesterday positing that News Corp./NBC’s video distribution plan could potentially disrupt Google’s efficacy as a search engine. If such a plan comes to fruition and media is distributed across Yahoo, MSN, MySpace and AOL, Young argues, then “Google would have no choice but to accept the demands […]

Viacom published on the Washington Post op-ed page on Saturday their case against YouTube. Michael Fricklas, Viacom’s general counsel, argues that while the DMCA fosters innovation by allowing Web companies (such as e-mail providers and file storage sites) to host data without fear of prosecution, YouTube abuses that privilege to create an entertainment destination that […]

NBC and News Corp.’s newly-announced video distribution network is a good idea in theory and will succeed in putting pressure on Google. But even though the network will reach 96 percent of Internet users, the user experience won’t be that great. Google’s goal with YouTube is to incentivize media companies to provide content. Google does […]