The original Google TV was an ambitious product that had two completely impossible tasks: take on big cable and make web TV a thing. And there’s another product in that graveyard worth talking about. It’s one of several ex-products that lie in the Google Graveyard. Google has stopped offering this traditional TV service to new customers, but it still provides it to existing users. When Fiber launched, it often offered a bundled TV package. Google once had ambitions to provide gigabit internet to cities around the US, but it’s really dialed those back. Oh, speaking of, Google is also a cable TV provider via. It costs $64.99 per month, which is almost surely as or more expensive than what your local cable TV provider might offer you. YouTube TV is Google’s live television streaming offering. And you know, one of the apps you can run on it is. Think of it as a formal Google layer on top of the open source Android platform - because that’s what it is. Google TV runs on top of Android TV, but is distinct from it. Android TV is Google’s main television operating system, a version of Android that’s fully optimized for the TV layout. The companies most likely to do so are probably already using. It’s also going to be offered to other TV makers who’d like to use it. It is, as you might expect, heavily focused on search and the Google Assistant. In the context of running on the Chromecast, Google TV is the interface you left/right/up/down your way through to find something you want to watch. This is a new dongle you can use to stream video either directly or via cast. I suppose you could also use this app to cast video to. You can use it to rent movies or watch stuff you’ve purchased elsewhere if you’re signed up for Movies Anywhere. We’ve covered this above, but the key thing to know is that it’s an app for phones. Formerly known as Google Play Movies & TV (and still known as that on phones that don’t run Android). Let’s run down a few of the different TV products Google offers now, as a kind of glossary: What’s clear, though, is that the “Play” branding no longer plays, so Google is simplifying it to just Google TV. It’s still there: the Google Play Store is Google’s app store, Google Play Books will let you buy books and comics, and despite several years of starvation and neglect Google Play Music still has yet to completely shut down and be replaced by YouTube Music. Some time ago, Google tried to create a whole ecosystem of content around the “Play” brand. In addition to being the aforementioned app, it’s also the name of the Google software layer that sits on top of Android TV on the new Chromecast with Google TV. Google’s TV offerings also are a little confusing. Apple also uses the Apple TV branding in multiple ways - as hardware, app, and its own streaming video service. Apple uses its Apple TV app as the hub for all its video offerings as well, whether they are TV shows or not. The app is Google’s store for renting and buying movies and TV, and in truth Google is following Apple’s lead here. The rename is happening on Android phones to start, though you can expect it to change on other platforms eventually as well. Along with the launch of the new Chromecast with Google TV, which we’ve just reviewed, Google is changing the name of the Google Play Movies & TV app to Google TV.
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