Google TV will launch in UK, confirms Google chairman Eric Schmidt

Google chairman reveals European launch for 2012 with UK "one of the top priorities"

Google TV has been launched in the US - and Europe's nextPhoto: Logitech

Having made its mark on the PC and mobile worlds, Google is now aiming to takie over another of your screens - your TV: the search giant looking set to bring its Google TV service to the UK.

Google TV, already launched in the US, allows TV sets to offer internet browsing, apps and, unsurprisingly, search functionality, along with ability to use an Android mobile as a TV remote control.

Now the software platform is about to hit these shores, with Google chairman Eric Schmidt confirming Google TV is coming to the UK sooner rather than later.

"We expect Google TV to launch in Europe early next year and of course the UK will be among the top priorities," he told the 2011 Edinburgh TV festival, during his MacTaggart lecture keynote.

The move into TV doesn't represent a desire for Google to get into content creation, however.

"When it launched, some in the US feared we aimed to compete with broadcasters or content creators. Actually, our intent is the opposite. We seek to support the content industry by providing an open platform for the next generation of TV to evolve...

"Some have suggested Google should invest directly in TV content. To argue that misunderstands a key point. Google is a technology company. We provide platforms for people to engage with content and, through automated software, we show as next to content that owners have chosen to put up. But we have either the ambition nor the know-how to actually product content on a large scale. Trust me, if you gave people at Google free rein to produce TV you'd end up with a lot of bad sci-fi," Schmidt said.

Google TV was announced at Google's I/O conference in 2010. The first TV sets with the platform built in started appearing late last year from manufacturers including Logitech and Sony.