Along with the launch of the new Chromecast with Google TV, Google is changing the name of the Google Play Movies & TV app to Google TV. The rename is happening on Android phones to start, though you can expect it to change on other platforms eventually as well.
The app is Google’s store for renting and buying movies and TV, and in truth Google is following Apple’s lead here. Apple uses its Apple TV app as the hub for all its video offerings as well, whether they are TV shows or not. Apple also uses the Apple TV branding in multiple ways as hardware, app, and its own streaming video service.
Google TV’s main home page will feature titles pulled from all your integrated streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and HBO Max. It’ll also show options from other channels that you haven’t used, like Tubi TV or Crackle perhaps. The top two thirds or so of the page is dedicated to a carousel of featured shows based on what the system thinks you’ll want to watch next.
Tabs at the top let you view suggestions for movies, TV shows, apps and your content library. The rest of the main page presents several rows of content, including genres Google thinks you like, as well as titles from specific services like Netflix and YouTube. Like Play Movies and TV already do, Google TV will canvas all available streaming providers to make it easier to find a show you like rather than search each channel for a show.
Google said it updated the search knowledge graph it used in previous offerings like Play Movies & TV to help Google TV better understand what you’re looking for. You’ll also be able to continue to use the Cast system to stream your photos or phone screen to your TV, and those who liked Ambient mode for displaying art on their television sets will still find it here. Google also said Stadia support will be available in the first half of 2021.
Importantly, Google TV will also be available as a mobile app for Android devices starting today, so you can already experience the new interface on your phone. Start adding shows to your watchlist and they’ll carry over to the big screen, too.
Let’s run down a few of the different TV products Google offers now, as a kind of glossary:
- Google TV (the app). Formerly known as Google Play Movies & TV (and still known as that on phones that don’t run Android). We’ve covered this above, but the key thing to know is that it’s an app for phones. You can use it to rent movies or watch stuff you’ve purchased elsewhere if you’re signed up forMovies Anywhere. I suppose you could also use this app to cast video to…
- Chromecast with Google TV. This is a new dongle you can use to stream video either directly or via cast. It’s $49.99 and seems quite capable. It runs…
- Google TV. 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. It is, as you might expect, heavily focused on search and the Google Assistant. It’s also going to be offered to other TV makers who’d like to use it. The companies most likely to do so are probably already using…
- Android TV. Android TV is Google’s main television operating system, a version of Android that’s fully optimized for the TV layout. Google TV runs on top of Android TV, but is distinct from it. Think of it as a formal Google layer on top of the open source Android platform — because that’s what it is. And you know, one of the apps you can run on it is…
- YouTube TV. YouTube TV is Google’s live television streaming offering. It costs $64.99 per month, which is almost surely as or more expensive than what your local cable TV provider might offer you. Oh, speaking of, Google is also a cable TV provider via…
- Google Fiber TV. Google once had ambitions to provide gigabit internet to cities around the US, but it’s really dialed those back. When Fiber launched, it often offered a bundled TV package. Google has stopped offering this traditional TV service to new customers, but it still provides it to existing users. It’s one of several ex-products that lie in the Google Graveyard. And there’s another product in that graveyard worth talking about …
- Google TV (RIP, 2010-2014). The original Google TV was an ambitious product that had two completely impossible tasks: take on big cable and make web TV a thing. Oops, neither of those things happened, although the interface ideas championed in that first iteration of Google TV were quite good.
