Google’s internet TV platform, Google TV, has added new services including Raaga and Yupp TV, which feature Indian content, targeting the South Asian population living in the US. It’s interesting that Google has decided to specifically target the expat segment, since Indian TV packages on cable networks and Satellite TV are expensive, and Indian music content, limited, owing to geographical restrictions of music rights.
While Raaga offers a music streaming service focused on Indian music, claiming to feature more than 200 music labels from the region in almost 20 languages, including Bollywood content, as well as music in regional languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi and more, the YuppTV App offers access to 60 Live TV and video on demand channels across multiple Indian languages including Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Bengali and others via the internet. YuppTV offers various channels across different genres such as Gemini, KTV, ET Now, Sun TV, Star Vijay, Aaj Tak, UTV Stars and others.
Raaga already offers apps for Android smartphones and for iOS. Yupp TV offers apps for Mac, Windows, Boxee, Android, Blackberry and iPhone, and had tied-up with Samsung to offer an app on its Smart TV platform.
Besides the two services, Google TV has also added IslamBox that offers live TV channels related to Islam. The service includes access to Indian TV channel Peace TV.
Although Google TV failed to take off in a big way in its initial avatar because of its complex user interface and limited devices in the market, Google had updated the platform with support for the Android Market (now Google Play), and a more user friendly interface. As of date, Google TV is only available in the US, but a TechCrunch report quotes a Google exec saying that it will be extended to other geographies during the course of this year.
