Internet search giant, Google Inc is trying to expand its already formidable reach by testing a new television-programming search service with Dish Network Corp.
Combining Internet content with conventional TV will allow users to search both TV content and web videos (like YouTube) on set-top boxes “using elements of Google’s Android operating system.” It also lets users to personalize a lineup of shows, reports said.
Viewers in the Google test can search by typing queries, using a keyboard rather than a remote control. Google hopes to connect the service with its nascent TV ad-brokering business, allowing it to target ads to individual households based on search and viewing data.
Both Google and Dish Network, which has roughly 14 million subscribers, have declined to comment.
Previous efforts to access Internet programming on TV sets have failed to catch on, partly because they required consumers to purchase extra hardware. By working directly with an operator like Dish and its hardware, Google could avoid such issues.
Google has also been talking to other television-service providers and hardware makers, prodding them to use its Android-based technologies to offer a broader range of programming, a more personal experience and ads.
Both Dish Network and Google have a close relationship on the TV.
If Google did go ahead and launch some sort of ‘Google TV search,’ which looks unlikely to happen in the near future, competitors would include Clicker, the much-hyped online video search engine which has deals with set-top boxes like Boxee and popbox, so that users can search Clicker from their TVs.
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