Google has recently announced that its video service, Google Video, is going to become an online video store service. It’s a service in the sense that video content publishers, e.g. TV networks, will be able to put video content (TV shows) in Google Video and let users download it free or for a price.
To enable the miscellaneous pricing schemes (like allowing a person to watch a video only a certain number of times) Google Video will use their own Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology. DRM has been a controversial issue ever since it was introduced, as it touches the delicate issue of online privacy. So Google is already taking the heat for that, even before launching the video online store.
Personally, I want to see if and how Google will change the video and TV world. Although I do care about privacy issues, changes in the current TV viewing model are long overdue.