Google Video enables users to search TV content from PBS, the NBA, Fox News, C-SPAN, and others.

Google Inc. today announced the availability of Google Video, a new service that enables users to search the content of television programs from leading TV content providers including PBS, the NBA, Fox News, and C-SPAN, among others.

The Google Video beta enables users to search across the closed captioning content of TV programs that Google began indexing in December, 2004. Entering a query such as (iPod) will return a list of relevant television programs with still images and text excerpts from the exact point in the program where the search phrase was spoken. For television channels and content producers, Google Video can increase viewership by providing Google users with information on future airings of relevant programs. This early-stage release of Google Video does not include Google AdWords advertising or playback options.

"What Google did for the web, Google Video aims to do for television," said Larry Page, Google co-founder and president of Products. "This preview release demonstrates how searching television can work today. Users can search the content of TV programs for anything, see relevant thumbnails, and discover where and when to watch matching television programs. We are working with content owners to improve this service by providing additional enhancements such as playback."

"For more than three decades PBS and local PBS stations have pioneered the use of state-of-the-art technology to use media to inform, engage, entertain, and educate the American public," said Pat Mitchell, President and CEO of PBS. "Today we are proud to join with Google, a company that continues to achieve new levels of technical innovation with the launch of Google Video, a new service that increases the reach and impact of PBS content."