In an email message sent to customers, Google has announced that it will close down its pay-per-download video site, Google Video, as of August 15th meaning that no user will be able to purchase or download content from the service after this date. In the email, Google comments:"As a valued Google user, we're contacting you with some important information about the videos you've purchased or rented from Google Video. In an effort to improve all Google services, we will no longer offer the ability to buy or rent videos for download from Google Video, ending the DTO/DTR (download-to-own/rent) program."
However, Google's decision has not been met with approval from customers, as the closure of Google Video will mean that the facility to view DRM-protected videos will also be withdrawn. As a result, customers who already own content obtained through the Google Video service will no longer be able to view the videos for which they have paid.
Google has stated it will refund customers in the form of credit applied to their Google Checkout service, but some reports have claimed that customers will only receive a fraction of what has been paid, rather than a full refund.
The lifespan of Google Video has been surprising short, having only been launched in January 2006, when the search giant announced that the Google Video store would allow users to buy video content such as full-length movies, sports games and TV programmes.
But since Google's $1.65 billion acquisition of video-sharing site, YouTube, it appears that the company has had less success selling content than attracting advertising spending. YouTube, whose video content is free to view, is expected to become the focal point of Google's expansion into video advertising as the search engine hopes to settle on an effective advertising system for video ads before the end of the year.
Pulling the plug on Google Video indicates that the company are more likely to withdraw services that have difficulty in gaining support - something that its management rarely did until recent times. Last November, Google abandoned a Google Answers, a service that hired researchers to find answers to specific questions posed by users.
