EmailThe Guardian has today launched its first app for Google TV, giving US audiences the ability to view content from the Guardian at the click of a button.
Viewers with a Google connected TV will have access, straight from their Google homepage, to the Guardian's award-winning journalism, stunning picture galleries and rich multimedia content in a format especially adapted for TV.
The Guardian is one of the first newspapers to create an app for Google TV and follows its recent digital expansion in the US with Guardiannews.com.
Janine Gibson, editor-in-chief, Guardiannews.com, said: "Since announcing our digital-first strategy last year, we have been experimenting with different ways of delivering our content on new digital platforms, allowing us to open up our journalism to new audiences. With our US operation underway, the launch of our Google TV app is a small but positive step towards connecting these new audiences with the Guardian's journalism on an expanding platform with such a huge potential."
Stephen Folwell, Business Director, Multimedia and Brand Extensions, Guardian News & Media, said, "The app we're releasing today was built in HTML5 and hooks directly into our open content platform. We've started with a design and experience that is clean and simple and which allows us to experiment in real-time. The app is a beta product at this stage and we welcome feedback to help shape our final product which will be rolled out at a later date."
Features on the Google app include:
– Content displayed in an easy to navigate way with a menu of options including news, videos, galleries and settings
– Guardian Eyewitness image opening screen that changes daily
– The latest news articles from the Guardian
– View videos from the Guardian in high definition
– Stunning picture galleries that can be viewed as a slide show
– An option to view arts and features and sports content
Currently the Guardian App for Google TV is available for free in the US.
You can find the Guardian's app in Google TV in the Spotlight feature on the Google TV homepage.
For more information on the app visit: www.guardian.co.uk/beta
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Notes to editors:
Google TV
Google TV is a platform that combines users' current TV programming and the web into a single, seamless entertainment experience.
Guardian Open Platform
The Guardian's app for Google TV was built using the Guardian's Open Platform service. The Open Platform launched in 2009 and gives partners access to its content API, a database of more than 1.4 million articles.
Guardian News & Media became the first newspaper publisher to open up its database to partners, who are encouraged to re-use Guardian and Observer content in a creative way on their own websites and to build applications for other digital platforms.
The Open Platform has a number of models for sponsorship, revenue sharing, and commission-based partnerships to help brands and businesses reach audiences in new ways and on a range of online platforms.
For further information contact
Christine Crowther, Guardian News & Media press office
(+44) 203 353 2219
