Google Nearing TV Ad Deal With DirecTV

By Ed Oswald | Published April 11, 2007, 12:54 PM

Google may be close to snagging a second distributor for ads sold through its recently-announced television advertising program, with blog VentureBeat reporting that it may be about to sign a deal with satellite provider DirecTV.

Such a deal would give the Mountain View, Calif. a decent base from which to build on. Along with DISH Network, which it signed a deal with last week, Google would be able to offer its customers a potential reach of nearly 29 million television viewers.

Citing an unnamed source, VentureBeat says the deal will take a little more time to go through due to the fact the company recently changed management. However, it said a deal is all but certain.

"This is just the latest move by Google to sew up the entire advertising world," Matt Marshall wrote Tuesday. "Google is pushing into newspapers, magazines, radio, cable and now satellite."

Neither DirecTV nor Google would comment directly on the news, although it said it is always pursuing new opportunities to grow its advertising business.

In any case, the news is good for DirecTV, and shows some television operators may be more open to Google's ambitions than those in radio. The company has struggled to build up its business there.

Its radio ad efforts have only seen about 900 stations in about 200 markets sign up to be part of the program, most of which are outside major markets and operate at low power.

View comments by with a score of at least

Comcast deal for NBC Universal is about content, not broadband

Although Comcast is certainly America's largest broadband provider, at least for PCs, in most regards, today's deal with GE may not impact the Internet at all.

The Black Screen Syndrome, or, Tech news in search of the apocalypse

Scott Fulton On Point: This is a story about something that should not have been a story, about something that at one time was a story.

Five compact digital camera myths and realities

This holiday 2009 primer offers tips on what and what not to look for in a compact digital camera.

Mark Russinovich on MinWin, the new core of Windows

The next version of Windows three years hence will likely build onto a significant architectural change implemented in Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2.

Android team updates 'Donut' and 'Eclair' SDKs

The Android SDK includes components which optimize app development for each version of the mobile operating system. Today, the 1.6 and 2.0 components got updates.

See ya later, WinMo: Microsoft's mobile strategy needs a reboot

Carmi Levy | Wide Angle Zoom: Hands up if you're considering upgrading to a Windows phone for the holidays...Anybody?

Online advertising evolves away from display, toward interactive software

Marketing departments and agencies are increasingly establishing positions for "creative technologists" who can steer designers and developers toward platforms that enable direct connections with consumers.

Google begrudgingly adjusts news crawling for paid publishers

If publishers want to make readers pay for news content, and thereby drive down its popularity and Google ranking, the company says, they can just go right on ahead.

Fee or free? Murdoch, Huffington square off over the cost of Internet news

Participants in an FTC workshop yesterday witnessed the two extremes of the Web news publishing debate, still centered on the issue of long-term profitability.

Security firm: Windows patches not responsible for 'Black Screen of Death'

On second thought, maybe that access control list thingie with the lockdown something-or-rather didn't trigger an alleged, perhaps non-existent, pandemic.

Apple settles with Psystar except for 'circumvention devices'

The fracas with the Florida clone computer maker might have ended today had Apple not have muddled the issue over a cheap piece of Psystar software.