What is Google TV?

In the beginning, there was Netflix. And it was good.

So good, in fact, that a series of rivals rushed into the market to compete with it.

We’ve previously written about the fragmentation of streaming media, and the daunting diversity of platforms now available.

In the UK alone, we have the BBC iPlayer, 4OD, My5, ITVX, BritBox and NOW TV, the latter reprising much of the content Sky or Virgin Media subscribers can access.

Then there’s the American onslaught, which includes Disney+, Discovery+, Apple TV+ and other subscription platforms without a plus suffixing their names.

Despite its dwindling significance as a search engine (given its growing reluctance to actually link to third-party content), Google remains a world-leading content aggregator.

As such, it’s perhaps unsurprising that it offers its own streaming service, curating and collating the content from services like Amazon Prime Video and Rakuten.

But what is Google TV comprised of, and how can consumers in the UK access it?

You held the world in your arms

The main purpose of Google TV is to unite almost all the streaming platforms mentioned above into a single location.

Whether you want to watch British terrestrial catch-up TV or the latest American box sets, it’s all here.

Indeed, Google TV claims to offer access to more than ten thousand apps.

There are music portals (Spotify, Pandora, BBC Sounds), fitness tools (Peloton, EQX, Gymondo) and sport (BT Sport, TNT Sports, DAZN).

Once users have selected the apps they’d like to access, Google TV will curate recommendations much as the streaming apps already do themselves, but across all platforms.

It will also update changes made on a smart TV, mobile app or Google search on all connected devices, while a smartphone can be used to control a smart TV.

It’s possible to either buy a TV with Google TV integrated, purchase a 4K streamer to control smart home devices, or simply download a free smartphone app on Android and iOS devices.

Indeed, on the subject of Android, Google TV has largely replaced Android TV, which is now the name of the operating system running Google TV.

What is Google TV good at?

Google TV aims to curate and supervise them in a single unified location, rather than loading different apps and websites.

It doesn’t subscribe you to any of the streaming services it hosts, so you’ll still need a subscription to any platform whose content you wish to view.

The main benefit is that you don’t need to exit one app and wait for another to load, while searches for interesting content take place across numerous sites at once.

A motoring enthusiast might be offered results for Top Gear on iPlayer, The Grand Tour on Amazon, Fifth Gear on My5 and Wheeler Dealers on Discovery+.

Some reports suggest the sheer volume of content accessible through Google TV causes even fairly high-specification hardware to bog down when navigating or loading results.

I’m sure I’ve heard that name before

You may well have done, since the current iteration of Google TV has borrowed the name of a smart TV operating system which was replaced in 2014 by…Android TV.

Today’s Google TV is a rebranded version of Google Play Movies & TV, launched a year after the original Google TV and renamed with its current title back in 2020.

To add to the confusion, Google TV has also replaced Chromecast – the streaming brand spun off from Google Chrome, which was supplanted in 2024 by the aforementioned 4K streamer hardware.

Although the streamer hosts more features than Chromecast did, it’s much more expensive and doesn’t offer enough to persuade existing Chromecast owners to upgrade their devices.

Apple aficionados will doubtlessly stick with their Apple TV 4K devices, especially as independent reviews have determined it offers superior picture and sound quality.

Yet if you’re not enmeshed in Apple’s ecosystem, Google TV is useful as a free content library, particularly if it’s pre-installed on a smart TV.