Google entering video-on-demand business

LAS VEGAS–Google announced a service Friday that will let people rent or buy downloadable videos online, including classic and contemporary CBS television shows and NBA basketball games.

With Google Video Store, which the company said will be “available soon” at video.google.com consumers will pay $1.99 to download and view, for an unlimited time, episodes from last season’s “Survivor” series, as well as episodes of 300 older TV programs like “I Love Lucy,” said Peter Chane, senior business product manager for Google Video. The announcement was made in conjunction with a keynote address by Google co-founder Larry Page at the Consumer Electronics Show here.

Also for $1.99, people will be able to rent, for 24 hours, recent episodes of popular TV series from CBS like “NCIS,” “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and “The Amazing Race,” Chane said. National Basketball Association games shown on TV can be downloaded for permanent purchase within one day of broadcast for $3.95, he said. Classic NBA games will also be available.

Full article: CNET News.com