Google TV will combine apps and search in a simple user interface. It sounds very like boxes already being available from Apple, BT, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony and others.

We’ve got a Sony box at home that integrates terrestrial and satellite channels with internet services such as BBC iPlayer, LoveFilm and YouTube. The interface is a bit clunky and no doubt this is something that Google will focus on as a point of differentiation.

But price and product design alone aren’t going to accelerate the adoption of internet TV services in the UK.

The critical issue is broadband access speeds and that’s beyond Google’s control. UK networks simply can’t yet deliver a satellite or terrestrial experience over the internet.

If we want to watch a film at home we need to download it an hour or so in advance. BBC iPlayer stutters and stalls depending on the time of day.

The Government’s ambition is that the UK should have the best broadband network in Europe by 2015, with 90% of homes and businesses having access to up to 40MBps superfast broadband and the balance should have access to at least 2MBps.

BT and Virgin Media are in the process of building out their optical fibre networks but will only invest in areas where it is economically viable. This means that approximately one-third of the UK will miss out.

Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) part of the Department of the Culture, Media and Sport, has been set-up with a fund of £530 million from the TV licence fee to bridge the gap. Local County Councils are to apply for the investment by developing a local broadband plan.

Broadband marketing by service providers always focuses on download speeds. Upload speeds are typically much slower. My domestic service has a download speed of 3MBps but uploads are less than 10% of this speed.

Only superfast broadband will close this gap and make services such as internet television viable.

The Google TV service will launch in the UK by March 2012 following a rollout in the US.

Good luck Google. But we need investment in our Internet infrastructure before Google TV will go mainstream.

1. SEO – ensure that your meta data accurately describes your video content as it will drive a high search potency
2. Homepage – be proud of your video content and promote it on your site don’t stick it away in a corner
3. Analytics – move beyond clicks to engagement metrics such as dwell time
4. Good automatic and managed editorial – signpost people to related, recent and most popular content
5. Social media – extensions on your video content should make it easy for viewers to share with their networks
6. Contextual promotion – embed video around related text in your site to drive engagment
7. Smart video distribution – Brightcove customers report that 50% of video traffic is generated by SEO. Make sure its in places people can find it
8. New platforms and devices – last year it was the iPhone this year it will likely be the iPad. Make sure your content works on viewer’s devices
9 A little YouTube – it’s the number two search engine (not just for video). Use it as a platform to pull in an audience
10. Localisation – make your content local for the markets that you’re targeting

There’s further information in a post on Eric’s blog.

Via Oli Barrett.

Yet a visit to Flickr or YouTube would provide any researcher or journalist with a stream of Creative Commons output tagged by location that could be incorporated within their news reporting.

But to date mainstream media has made limited use of social network as a newsgathering source.

One exception is Trinity Mirror owned ncjMedia which has created a Flickr group that it uses as a source of reader images for The Journal’s Your Place Northumberland project.

So why doesn’t mainstream media make greater use of Flickr and YouTube for newsgathering?

Ged Carroll suggested to me over the weekend that mainstream media sourced user generated content (UGC) direct as it was a means of engaging directly with its audience.

Craig McGill said that he thought that mainstream media didn’t make greater use of UGC social networks as it is reluctant to credit third part sources – and that understanding of Creating Commons was limited.

It plots the pace of changing face of media and devices and is fast becoming a hit on the Economist YouTube channel.

Have a look. I promise you’ll enjoy it!

Luke is guiding a two-pronged social media strategy:

• utilise word-of-mouth and encourage local influencers to spread the word in their communities
• target the large Afghan ex-pat population in the West for political donations and to amplify their views back into Afganistan

The campaign has two local language sites: http://ashrafghani.af/pashto and http://ashrafghani.af/dari, a Twitter feed and a campaigning channel on YouTube.

• To stream a programme via the internet using  BBC iPlayer or YouTube, you don’t need a TV Licence (providing that it isn’t being broadcast simulataneously).
• But to watch live content via satellite (Freesat or Sky), or to download it onto a PVR for playback, you need a TV Licence.
• To download content via the Internet for playback using a service such as 4oD Catch-Up or iTunes, you do not need a TV Licence (providing that it isn’t being broadcast simulataneously).
• But to stream a programme via the internet using the BBC iPlayer or BBC web site live services, at the same time as it is being broadcast, you need a TV Licence.

Confused? I was until I checked out the TV Licensing web site. Here’s what it says:

“[...] if you use any device to watch or record television programmes at the same time (or virtually the same time) as they’re being shown on TV, the law requires you to be covered by a TV Licence.”

There is almost certainly trouble ahead for the TV Licensing Authority as viewers increasingly download programmes from content providers after they have been broadcast. Don’t you think?