Google appears keen to extend its Android platform beyond the mobile operating system space, with the Wall Street Journal (WSJ)  reporting the Internet giant is testing a new television programming search service with US satellite TV company Dish Network Corporation. The newspaper said the service runs on TV set-top boxes using Google’s Android operating system and allows users to search content from Dish (which has around 14 million satellite TV subscribers) as well as Web video such as YouTube and to personalise a lineup of shows. Users search by typing on a keyboard rather than using a remote control.

The WSJ claims that the small test began last year and future plans are not yet known. Google is believed to be keen on linking the TV search service with its TV ad-brokering business, Google TV Ads. This would, in theory, allow Google to target ads to individual households based on viewing and TV search data. Google declined to comment on the report, but the WSJ noted that, in January, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said it “makes sense that people would use Android as an operating system for set-top boxes and buddy boxes and TVs” and added “all of those ideas have been proposed by our partners.”