Google and NBC Cuddle Up for Ad Deal

(MoneyWatch)  Google, who has been persistently trying to cozy up to television networks for over a year now, and NBC Universal, which has an on-again, off-again relationship with online content, struck a deal to let Google carry advertisements on select NBC cable channels.

To wit: Google will now be able to help place ad inventory via its Google TV Ads service on Sci Fi, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC, Sleuth and Chiller. The pair also promised to help develop better, more accurate metrics for television advertisers.

This seems to be a bigger deal for Google than for NBC Universal. Google's television advertising venture had seemed to be flailing about, reduced to striking up deals with small-fry local stations in an attempt to remain relevant. Before this deal, Google had only been able to access inventory on the Dish Network and Concord, CA cable provider Astound Broadband. Meanwhile, NBC is only making a relatively small amount of time available for Google to sell.

Other cable operators are much less likely to deal with Google. Many of them, led by Comcast, have partnered to develop Canoe Ventures, to develop their own interactive television ad network. It's also amusing to remember the rumors over a year ago that GE might possibly unload NBC, and that Google woulld be the company to snap it up.