Google Inc. and Douglas County-based Dish Network Corp. unveiled plans Thursday to introduce Google TV — a service that searches television programming — this fall.
The service, which runs on TV set-top boxes containing Google software, allows users to find shows on the satellite-TV service as well as video from websites such as Google’s YouTube and consumers’ DVRs.
A crowded field of companies, large and small, has been trying for years to marry the Web and television — from Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. to the makers of TVs and set-top boxes. TiVo Inc. in March unveiled its new digital video recorders that blend broadcast and online content.
Google TV follows a two-year joint development program between the companies, which began on a trial basis with about 400 customers more than a year ago.
For Google, which dominates Web search and the advertising revenue generated by it, the service represents another effort to extend its technology for delivering targeted ads into new fields as its search business slows down.
In addition to the venture with Dish, Google has been talking to a range of other 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.
