Viacom Blocks Google TV Users from Access to Full Show Episodes

NEW YORK - Viacom said Monday that it has blocked full-length episodes of shows that it makes available on the Internet from users of Google TV, becoming the latest TV network owner to withhold content on the Web giant's TV platform.

Recently, Fox joined ABC, NBC and CBS that have all blocked Web versions of their shows to Google TV users as well.

Viacom's MTV Networks operates such networks as MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and BET.

"We're blocking access to our full episode content from Google TV's Web browser," an MTV Networks spokesman said. "We continue to evaluate Google TV to identify opportunities where it may make sense to optimize our Web content for the platform." The spokesman said the blocking started at the end of last week.