Chris Gilmer , Tuesday, January 8th, 2008

A Japanese electronics company called Matsushita, who also happens to make TV’s for Panasonic, has announced a deal with Google that will allow users to directly access YouTube content online through their internet plasma TV’s.

There is no word whether the internet enabled plasma TV’s will be branded with Google, or solely a Matsushita brand, but they will hit store shelves in the US for spring 2008 for an undisclosed amount. Why Plasma? What happened to LCD? Supposedly this is a move to help gain a little market share boost against Sharp and Sony in the Plasma sector. Interesting choice to say the least. YouTube isn’t the only Google content it will be hooked up with. Picasa will be joining the party. With all this being accessible via a quick access button on the remote.

Sony and Sharp have also been in the works with internet connected TV’s.