As we sit here as a family watching the Oregon Auburn 2011 game on the big screen courtesy of GoogleTV I’m in awe. The picture is crisp. The streaming is flying. And, most importantly the content is not blocked. Unlike streaming the internet on our computers, GoogleTV prevents us a similar positive and seamless experience.

Since we purchased it, we’ve watched mostly Netflix and a number of Blu-Ray’s–most of the content we’re used to is blocked, including MSNBC and most major sport events. An almost total waste. With three very young children we knew watching this historic game would be out of the question outside the house or in another home.

I had no idea we could watch the game, and as I Google’d ESPN on the big screen it loaded and it came through. This is a positive for Oregon and Auburn–as brands they must do everything possible to get their brand–this historic game–in front of as many people as possible, without limitations. This goes for the advertisers who’ve poured tens millions of dollars to position themselves front-and-center given that millions of these devices have already been sold. This is a win-win for consumers, advertisers and the entire ecosystem. Both consumers and advertisers must demand more. Fred Wilson recently posted Content Shifting where he discusses how it’s going to be necessary as the ecosystem to create an environment where we can access our content using a variety of media devices on a variety of different apps.

Whether cable companies are going away anytime soon is another question. Some have written about it (Goodbye Cable, Hello GoogleTV, GoogleTV the Beginning of the End) but the fact remains that until these devices drop in price to ensure more market saturation, and until the major networks enable their content via GoogleTV, it will serve a limited role. I don’t think that’s what Google and Sony had in mind when they put these out at Best Buy.

Originally posted on Posterous