Google TV arriving in Europe in 2012

Google TV will arrive in Europe in 2012, according to Eric Schmidt. On the occasion of the Edinburgh International Television Festival, the voice of Google expressed the company’s next move in the TV project.
A project that in the United States did not achieve the hoped-for success and this, according to Schmidt, could have been due to a mistaken perception of the market towards Google TV. “They thought we were going to compete in the USA with broadcasters or content creators. The reality is quite the opposite: our goal is to encourage the content sector by providing an open platform for next-generation TVs,” Schmidt stated, referring to the major American networks and Google’s intentions in launching Google TV.
Whatever the reason for the little appeal exerted by the concept behind Google TV, the sales result of the boxes useful for activating the service has been disappointing.
The fact is that the debut in 2012 will mark the arrival of Google’s TV in Europe, although the possible local partners of the initiative are not yet known. If in America networks of the caliber of CBS and NBC have not joined the project, blocking their content from ending up in this global stream, which European broadcasters might be interested in this new way of understanding interactive television?
At the root of the concerns of the major television networks is the fear that this type of content sharing does not generate any added value to their business, almost as if it were a mere exploitation of information and services. And in this perspective perfectly fits the above-quoted statement by Schmidt that, in fact, confirms this very vision of the broadcasters about how Google TV works but on the other hand disavows it, at least in the statements of intent.
While waiting to learn more and verify which European networks will join Google TV, it is interesting to know that the price of the set-top box from Logitech has dropped in America from 249 dollars to only 99 dollars.
Who knows if in Europe the price will remain the same or if a completely different policy will be pursued: more details will arrive in the coming months.