Microsoft will attempt to make its Bing search engine an entertainment destination unto itself as part of a new upgrade being rolled out this week -- letting users not only seek information about TV shows but actually watch more than 20,000 full-length episodes from about 1,500 shows without leaving the site.

The Redmond company is unveiling the new "Bing TV" at an event in West Hollywood tonight under new partnerships with Hulu, Viacom and CBS. As they're being played, the shows will be framed by the Bing interface but served up from the sites of those partners, which will still deliver video advertisements.

The company is also adding more than 5 million full-length songs, each of which will be playable one time from within the search results before users are directed to buy the tracks from iTunes, Zune or Amazon.

It's part of a broader effort by Microsoft to upgrade the entertainment options available through its Bing search engine, in areas including television, movies, games and music. It comes in advance of the planned Google TV service, slated for launch later this year in special set-top boxes and Google TV-enabled televisions.

But despite Google's initiative and my earlier wishful thinking, Microsoft is not announcing any plans tonight to incorporate universal television and Internet video search from Bing into Xbox Live or any other service delivered through traditional televisions. The Bing team is justifying that lack of living room integration by pointing out how many people are using their laptops and desktop computers to watch television shows.

"Thirty percent of people are saying now that they only watch their TV shows through their computer," said Mike Nichols, a Bing general manager, when I asked about that possibility during a preview of the service.

Among other new features, the company is adding to Bing music lyrics, movie schedules, casual games, and links to video-game walkthroughs and cheats. The new features will be available via a new Bing Entertainment home page and from within Bing search results when users make entertainment-related queries.