Google an ally, not a threat, media exec says

Google, as they see it, is a "frenemy" -- an enemy who acts like a friend, or part friend, part enemy. Martin Sorrell, chairman and chief executive of advertising giant WPP Group, recently used the term. He is among the media executives who can't decide whether Google is trying to help their business or kill it.

That's where David Eun comes in. As vice president of content partnerships, the former NBC and Time Warner Inc. executive is Google's ambassador to the television, movie, publishing and local-media industries.

With its digital distribution power in high demand, Google has developed some goodwill in the media business. Whereas Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and AOL are developing original video programming, Google says it won't create content to compete with traditional media. Eun and his colleagues have struck deals to distribute MTV Networks clips on websites that run Google-brokered ads and with CBS, Universal Music Group and others to distribute video on YouTube, which Google bought in November for $1.65 billion.

Still, many media and advertising executives are wary of Google's expanding role in connecting audiences to digital content. The Internet company is defending against lawsuits brought by publishers and foreign news organizations alleging improper copying of their material. Record labels and TV networks are also upset about the unlicensed posting of their copyrighted works on YouTube.

In an interview at the company's campus in Mountain View, Calif., Eun reflected on a turbulent year for the media business and made his case for Google as friend, not foe.

Question: This fall, for the first time in the history of television, just about every prime-time show was available, legally, the next day, either for purchase on iTunes or free on the networks' websites. Is that a promising sign?

Answer: It is a good sign. I think it's just that, though -- it's a sign, not necessarily a conclusion of a large strategic shift in the industry. What it signals to me is that, to their credit, content owners are willing to experiment.