Google teams up with EchoStar for TV ad selling

Mountain View (CA) - After nearly a year of speculation about Google branching out beyond cyber media, the search engine giant announced that it has struck a new deal to sell ads to EchoStar’s Dish Network satellite TV service.

Under the new arrangement, advertisers will be able to bid on time and channel slots for TV ads. They can upload their commercials directly to Google. In addition, the new service, dubbed Google TV Ads, will let advertisers target specific demographic for when they want their ads to appear.

Google TV Ads will provide commercials to all 125 national non-premium networks in Dish’s lineup.

In addition, Google has struck a similar deal with Astound Broadband, a local California cable operator. It will be unknown exactly how successful the ad placement service can be until one of the major national cable companies signs on, according to industry analyst reports.

E-Trade and 1-800-Flowers are among the first companies speculated to bid for ad time through the new online platform.