Google makes historic television archives available

Google and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation today announced a joint effort to make the Foundation's Archive of American Television interviews available for free viewing on Google Video. This historic collection includes interviews with Alan Alda, Dick Wolf, Steven Bochco and many of television's greatest actors, writers, producers, directors and others.

"The Foundation's Archive of American Television is probably the most diverse, complete and fascinating resource of its kind. The stories are told through the eyes of the creative geniuses -- in front of and behind the cameras -- who shaped and continue to shape television into the most powerful medium in the world," Steve Mosko, Chairman of the Television Academy Foundation, commented. "Google has been fantastic. They learned of our need to make our interviews more accessible and stepped up to make it happen. This relationship is a perfect marriage of irreplaceable content and one of the most powerful delivery systems in the world."

Today, the first 75 of the 284 historic films (which equals to about 240 viewing hours) can be watched on Google Video at http://video.google.com. The collection includes a virtual "who's who" from the past 75 years of television.

Today, if a user enters the query (academy of television) into the Google Video search box at http://video.google.com they will see a results page featuring the first 75 interviews from the Academy.