Google-Dish Network Development Project Sets Its Sights On TV Programming

Google and satellite TV operator Dish Network Corp. have teamed up to develop a television programming search service, according to a Wall Street Journal story. The service, which the two companies are currently testing, runs on TV set-top boxes that incorporate Google's Android wireless technology.

The service would allow consumers to create personalized show lineups, according to the Wall Street Journal. Users can find shows on satellite TV as well as video from Web sites such as Google's own YouTube.

Google hopes to connect the new service with its television advertisement brokering business, according to the WSJ report. That would allow it to target ads to individual households based on data generated by the new systems.

The Google-Dish Network project further blurs the line between television and the Internet. Consumers today can view television shows on Hulu.com, for example. But efforts to bring Internet content to television haven't been very successful because of the need for extra hardware. TiVo recently unveiled a digital video recorder that works with both Internet and broadcast TV content.

The new Google-Dish service is reportedly being tried out by a small number of the companies' employees and their families. The WSJ story said users search by typing queries into a keyboard rather than using a TV remote.