Sony, Samsung and Panasonic prepare internet TVs

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By Mike Jennings in Berlin

Posted on 5 Sep 2009 at 15:50

Several of the world’s biggest consumer electronics firms have revealed new television services designed to deliver content from some of the internet's most popular websites into customers' living rooms.

The new services, to be introduced by Samsung, Sony and Panasonic, link up with numerous websites and information services to provide social-networking features, news, sport and TV listings at the touch of a button.

Samsung’s Internet@TV was introduced during the firm’s first IFA Berlin press conference, and was described by Michael Zollar, the European Visual Office’s marketing director, as a device to “bring information, entertainment, games and social networking to your TV, without the need for a PC”.

The Internet@TV service features widgets that collate content from Yahoo, Flickr, eBay, Twitter, YouTube and other social-networking services, displaying it in a specially designed interface that’s accessed through a button on the remote control.

Sony, meanwhile, has unveiled Bravio Internet Video, a similar service that already has deals in place with providers across Europe – including Five’s on-demand service in the UK. YouTube and DailyMotion, as well as a host of smaller lifestyle websites, are already on board.

When asked if more prominent local providers would join the service, a Sony representative enthusiastically confirmed that “typical domestic content providers” would be signed up – but couldn’t name names.

He did assure us, though, that Bravia Internet Video would debut in the UK in “March or April 2010”, and that Sony intended to provide a similar service to the one that’s proved so successful in the US, where Amazon hosts more than 200,000 full-HD product videos and numerous other content providers offer news, sport and entertainment on demand.

Viera Cast

The latest version of Panasonic’s own internet TV service, Viera Cast, will be launching in Germany soon and will be arriving in the UK at “approximately the same time”, according to Panasonic spokesperson Sascha Ohm.

First impressions suggest that the German version of the service is one of the most extensive around – we’ve seen one screen that offers eight different channels of sports highlights from Eurosport and widgets for YouTube, Picasa and Twitter.

There’s also integration with German newspaper Bild and other local services, and Ohm confirmed that major “national providers” would be on board for the latest update to the UK service.

Philips' NetTV, meanwhile, has been around since the beginning of 2009 and offers YouTube and Ebay integration. The wealth of German services on display at IFA, though, suggests that localisation is a priority for Philips, and that the British version of the service should be getting more content soon.