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Report: Google Going After TV

By and large, Google, with its billions in ready cash, still represents the single biggest threat to traditional media. Case in point: CEO Eric Schmidt unveiling the search giant's plans to bring its search engine to TV screens. The company is building an electronic programming guide (EPG) that enables TV viewers with a broadband set top box to choose from a wider array of video and film content. As Schmidt points out, an EPG is little more than a search engine for television; Google thinks it can create a world-beating system. However, rival Microsoft may already have a head start: its Microsoft Media Player and Xbox 360 game console are essentially Internet-enabled TV operating systems that let users browse the Web from their digital televisions. Schmidt hopes Google will be the search engine consumers use to look for content through such devices, but for now, Microsoft's media consoles offer closed-off Web browsing experiences. As for advertising, Google co-founder Larry Page tells The Business that he's currently working on an unnamed project "that will revolutionize television advertising." This is believed to be some variation of its immensely successful pay-per-click advertising system.

Read the whole story at The Business Online »

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