次なる巨大市場を求めて、再びテレビに照準を合わせる米IT企業

米国の主力IT企業が、次なる巨大市場を求めてテレビに照準を合わせつつある。まずGoogleは2013年8月、インターネット動画をテレビで見るための小型装置「Chromecast」を発売。同社最大のライバルであるAppleは本格的なインターネット・テレビを開発中と噂され、進境著しいFacebookもテレビCMとよく似たウエブ動画広告をこの秋にも開始すると見られている。

Major IT companies in the United States are refocusing on TV-related businesses in their search for the next big market on the horizon. For example, Google released a small device called “Chromecast,” which transforms a conventional TV set into a new kind of Internet device. Their biggest competitor, Apple is also rumored to be developing a fully-fledged Internet TV dubbed “iTV,” and Facebook, following the two IT titans, is said to be planning to launch a new kind of video-advertisement, in the coming Fall which is similar to current conventional TV CMs.
The TV business has been so comprehensively controlled by the so-called US-based media-conglomerates such as Disney, Time-Warner, News Corp. and so on that even IT giants such as Apple haven’t been able to penetrate into their territory to realize their vision of innovative smart TVs and related services. However, the situation is gradually changing, to the extent that some Internet companies are now producing their own Internet-TV programs, and cultivating their own talents. This report will show that these companies are now aiming to break into the TV business from their own perspectives, and on their own terms.