As it competes with Yahoo and Microsoft, Google continues to expand beyond search and will offer, through Thursday, streamcasts of the TV premiere of Chris Rock's new comedy on UPN, "Everybody Hates Chris," without commercials, reports the Associated Press, writing that the move is intended to demonstrate that the Google Video service is more than home videos that users are encouraged to upload for Google to index and make available online.
Peter Chane, senior business product manager for Google Video, described the offering as a test of "how many users want to watch the show on the internet if they didn't watch it on television." The video is available as an on-demand stream, rather than a download, and so is not copied onto computers.
Earlier this year, the WB debuted its new TV series "Supernatural" on Yahoo, and last year it showed "Jack & Bobby" on America Online first. The BBC is testing video online and plans to offer its programs online up to a week after they have aired. Also, Fox has developed one-minute episodes of "24" for mobile devices.
