Interesting news hit yesterday regarding secret talks taking place between Telstra and Google to bring Chromecast to Australia. The Australian reports that Telstra are keen to use Chromecast to deliver their Bigpond services to Aussie TV’s. Telstra are obviously keen to capitalise on their investment in sports coverage and their Bigpond Movies service.
The back of a TV really is unattractive, ain’t it?
For those unfamiliar with Chromecast, it’s a small dongle that plugs into the HDMI port on your television. Once installed, users can send audio and video from their smartphone/tablet/computer to their television set over their home wireless network. It’s an easy and elegant solution to having to deal with the awkward complexities that come with Smart TV’s.
The news regarding Telstra’s interest in Chromecast makes sense. It’s a very low cost way to get your service on to TV’s and it wouldn’t come as a surprise to find that Telstra may simply absorb the cost of the devices to drive take-up of their IPTV services. In the least, we can likely expect to see a short-term exclusivity window with Chromecast only available through Telstra.
Beyond Telstra, other Australian content providers have their eye on Chromecast once it launches locally. A Network Ten spokesperson told Televised Revolution that “We will definitely investigate the potential opportunities to extend TENplay to other platforms as they enter the market. We will assess Google ChromeCast when the product becomes available in Australia“. The ABC have told Televised Revolution that “ChromeCast is something that ABC iview will certainly consider as we work to make our TV content more accessible, and the discovery of it more enjoyable. The take-up of iview via Apple’s AirPlay functionality is quite exciting to see, and this new technology from Google provides a similar experience. Using a smartphone or tablet to stream on your big screen provides a simple and really pleasurable way of exploring ABC iview’s deep library of TV content“.
Google have recently opened up Chromecast to third-party developers, releasing a Software Development Kit (SDK) in early February. While this means we should start seeing more streaming media providers developing Chromecast functionality, currently, there is a limited number of providers supporting it. This number becomes even more restrictive in Australia where VPN services are required to access them. This means that Netflix and Hulu Plus cannot be used locally. As great as Chromecast may be, it’s real value will not be seen here in Australia for some time to come.
Press a button on your iPad and it sends the video to your telly. Nifty.
Chromecast itself is an interesting and game-changing product. Firstly, as a $35 product, it’s relatively inexpensive for anyone with a modern-ish television can deliver sophisticated Smart TV functionality to their TV’s as long as they have a HDMI port on the TV (which should be anyone who has a digital ready television). With so many people stuck with TV’s that offer a connected TV experience that is no more sophisticated than allowing streaming of ABC’s iView and a minimal number of other services, the Chromecast opens up those TV’s to a much richer experience. The Chromecast will also benefit those with early Smart TV’s that required the purchase of a dongle to deliver wireless access to their TV’s. Chromecast will be cheaper than the proprietary dongles required.
Click here to view the embedded video.
What makes Chromecast a revolutionary product is that it changes the way that you engage with your television set. A normal TV set serves as a Master, delivering you (the Slave) the content. You exhibited some control with volume, channel up/down, and play/pause functionality via your remote, but the decision making of content still exists on the TV set. Even sophisticated smart TV interfaces (including use of platforms like Roku and Apple TV) have the decision making occurring on the TV screen. Where Chromecast changes this is that all the power now exists with your smartphone. The Smartphone becomes the de-facto remote control, while retaining all the decision-making functionality with you choosing content on the phone/tablet and sending that information to your TV.
As a cheap $35 product, Chromecast is a must-buy. For the functionality it delivers to the TV viewing experience, you can’t overlook it. Similarly, any content provider serious about offering a ‘TV everywhere’ experience will need to embrace it. This weeks news that Telstra are in talks with Google is very promising, meaning it may not be too long until we see the product launched here in Australia. Fingers crossed.
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