Google TV: We are in Kansas now

Google has confirmed that it is taking steps towards launching a new TV service in Kansas City, with applications with the Missouri Public Service Commission and the Kansas Corporation Commission to operate a fibre-based video service. As reported in Rapid TV News, Google is set to make a play in the cable TV market in the Kansas City. The search giant has been in the dark fibre game for a while, leading many to wonder when the search giant would actually light some of it up to deliver telecom services, such as wireline broadband for business. About a year ago Google announced that Kansas City (both the Kansas and the Missouri sides) would be its pilot community for fibre-fed Internet services with speeds up to 1Gbps. Apparently, TV is where it's at as well. “We’re still exploring what products will be available when we launch Google Fibre,” Google spokeswoman Jenna Wandres told the Kansas City Star. But the filings tell more, listing plans to use “national and regional video head end facilities” for private (managed) IPTV service. If and when it launches, Google will be up against cable incumbent Time Warner Cable, AT&T U-verse (a similar ultra high-speed fibre-based service) and satellite.