Google TV to Launch in UK on July 16

Google is set to launch its interactive TV service Google TV in the UK, nearly two years after its American launch.

The first hardware, made by Sony, will offer direct access to the internet, and Google hopes it will also encourage software developers to write apps for televisions as well as for mobile phones and tablets.

The Sony-branded GS7 set-top box will launch from July 16, 2012 first in Britain and then in Canada, Australia and a number of European and South American countries. It was first unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, and a Blu-ray player with Google TV built in, called the GP9, is also planned from October.

The set-top box allows users to browse the internet through their television, as well as access a range of specially designed applications. Google’s Chrome web browser is built in to the new box, which also features a remote control that has a touchpad on one side and a full keyboard on the other.

A smartphone or tablet can also be used as a remote via the free Media Remote app.

Google TV has struggled in America, and the interface has been redesigned since it was first unveiled. Special versions of YouTube, Twitter and some websites have now been created for the TV interface, and Google hopes more users will rent films through the new service. A company spokesman said that internet on television needed to be more of a "lean back experience" than it is on a computer.

Apple is rumored to be working on a television, too, while major hardware manufacturers such as Samsung are already building "connected" televisions that connect to the web.