Google has moved into television advertising as the company continues to expand its reach into other media beyond the Internet.

According to the Wall Street Jounral, Google is buying ad time on a small cable service, Astound, in Concord, California, then re-selling commercial breaks to advertisers under an auction system.

The trial, which started in December, if a success could see the company offer advertising to television stations around the US and the world.

This is the company's first foray into offline advertising. Last year the company announced a deal with a number of US based newspapers to offer Google advertising as classified pages. The company has also recently announced that it has filed patents on technology to deliver its adverts to billboards.

According to Robert Andrews at e-consultancy.com, "If Google can put the juice back into television advertising, it may attract networks like ITV and SMG, which have faced ad slumps in the last couple of years, hit by increasing plurality and the transfer of eyeballs to the internet".