Not everyone wants to pay for a subscription, so Google is thinking about including free channels with commercials within the Google TV offer
If digital terrestrial TV is free, but full of commercials, streaming TV is paid for, but without commercials. Or maybe it was, because a great news is coming that will be appreciated by those who don't have much desire to pay a monthly subscription: on Google TV free channels are coming, with advertising in between.
The news, not confirmed by Google but relaunched by Protocol, is of these hours and, if confirmed, would be a remarkable news because it would greatly expand the catchment area of streaming TV and, at the same time, would give a strong boost to Google TV devices, which are currently very few: the last Chromecast with Google TV, the same Google, and a handful of models of some famous manufacturers such as Sony and TCL. To these should be added, soon, the first Realme stick with Google TV. Waiting for the number of devices to increase, in any case, here's how it will be the free channels on Google TV.
Free channels on Google TV: how they will be
According to Protocol, the user experience with free channels on Google TV will be comparable to what we all know on normal TV not streaming: you do not pay, but the show will be interrupted every now and then by commercials. It is not known, however, how many will be.
Probably the new free channels will be included in the Live section of Google TV, or in a special section that will be created ad hoc just for them. Almost certainly at the beginning they will be few and, as Google makes agreements with broadcasters, they will become more. Just as certain is the fact that it will start from the United States, and then bring the channels in other countries.
Free channels: on other services there are already
Google TV will not be the first to flank paid platforms with free channels, supported by commercials. To be honest, it's not even the first time Google has tried this, as an initial attempt was there back in 2014 with the launch of Android TV. The reception of the free channels, however, was so lukewarm that Google removed them when it launched the new Chromecast with Google TV last year.
Other electronics bigwigs, however, deploy free channels on their devices with better luck. For example, LG, Samsung, VIZIO and Roku offer hundreds on their smart TV and TV box models. Even Amazon Prime Video, in America, offers some content from the IMDb TV channel for free with advertising.