Panasonic Viera Cast free on-demand TV Service

March 19, 2009

Panasonics announcement about Viera Cast is an interesting development for On Demand TV enthusiasts as TV manufacturers attempt to add features to their sets to increase sales. The TV manufacturer has announced plans to introduce a number of LCD and plasma HDTV’s:

that are Internet-enabled and provide access to online video content directly from the living room, without the need to use a computer (source).

The service is due to launch in May, 2009 when the new V10 LCD TV range is launched and there will be no registration or subscription costs for the service, which will simply require users to plug an ethernet cable into the back of the TV.

Panasonic Viera Cast content is going to be provided through partnerships with a number of organisations including:
YouTube,
Google’s Picasa,
Eurosport and
Bloomberg (for financial news, and local weather information).

Panasonic also mention in their announcement that they will feature:

exclusive content from Eurosport for the European market

The content will vary from country to country, but 1200 sport videos will be available on Eurosport for the launch in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Russian.

To complement the exclusive content from Eurosport for the European market, Panasonic has also forged an alliance with ARD Television (a Geman network of TV stations).

The 2009 sets that will feature Viera Cast are:
Plasma:
Z1 Series
V10 Series
G15 series

LCD:
V10 Series
G15 Series

Given the BBC’s current consultation regarding the Canvas on demand TV service and various other initiatives, it’s going to be interesting to see how the on-demand TV market develops for users in the UK.

Posted in on demand tv - general