Networks Block Google TV Access to Their Programming

ABC, CBS and NBC are blocking TV programming on their websites from being viewable on Google's new Web-TV service, illustrating the problem with all efforts to create alternative ways of viewing TV programming.

Full-length episodes of shows like NBC's 'The Office,' CBS's 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,' and ABC's 'Modern Family' can't be viewed on Google TV, a service that allows people to access the Internet and search for Web videos on their television screens, as well as to search live TV listings, the Wall Street Journal reports.

As always has been the case, content owners will block any effort to disrupt their existing revenue models by denying legal access to the programming people want to watch, until some tipping point where content owners believe the results are at least revenue neutral, with further upside going forward.