Google announced its long-awaited expansion into the television this morning, and while it might not have seemed the most natural extension of its business on the surface, the way the company is integrating search into the technology makes a lot of sense in that it's true to the company's roots.

In fact, elements of the promotional video reminded me a lot of Google Listen, the experimental, search-based audio app that I became enamored with in my testing of the Google Droid phone a while back. The idea of a unified search for television programs and other video content has a lot of appeal, especially coming from a company that generally knows how to do search.

That said, the glitches experienced during the initial demo of the technology at Google I/O this morning weren't exactly encouraging. Even if they weren't related to the Google TV platform itself, they present the company with a bit of a public-relations hurdle to overcome at the outset of a major new initiative.

Of course, from a business perspective, this move is all about advertising, with Google hoping to spread its reach to the lucrative television market. To get a sense for Google's potential to change how TV ads work, check out this video from a while back from Slate's Seth Stevenson about his experience with Google's existing TV ads system that lets people -- yes, individual people -- place their own ads on remnant television inventory.

Microsoft has been targeting the television for years, through its Mediaroom IPTV initiative and Windows Media Center PCs, in addition to its Xbox 360 consoles. But because of its strength in Internet advertising, Google is in a unique position here, and it will be interesting to see what it's able to pull off.

Google is partnering with Logitech and Sony on the initiative, and it says the first Google TV sets and devices will be available this fall.