Google says that ad skipping would not be permitted on its new TV platform Google TV.

The hybrid television and internet platform was announced last week and will arrive in the US later this year through web-enabled Sony televisions and Logitech set-top boxes.

Although recent television developments have allowed viewers to skip through commercials, Google TV would not block ad content from live streamings.

Yesterday at an I/O briefing in Sydney, Google TV product manager Rishi Chandra said, "It's much harder with an on demand system for users to skip the ads because they are being streamed in real time."

It is not a surprise that Google would make this move because advertising revenues are the internet's lifeblood.

Not all recording platforms offer ad skipping functions, however, services like TiVo digital recorder have given consumers control on commercials. Such platforms have given problems to the advertising industry, which funds the production of free-to-air commercial television content.

According to Daniel Leesong, chief executive of the Communications Council in Australia, it will be good for advertisers if viewers are locked into viewing advertising content.

"From our perspective its a very good thing. Ad skipping is an acknowledged issue in the advertising industry," he said.

Chandra believes that both advertisers and viewers will both benefit from a possible whole new range of advertising formats.

"From an advertiser's perspective one of challenges we have seen from existing television infrastructure is that you can't personalise ads in any way. One of the things the web has is that it can be much more targeted. You can . . . display fewer ads that are more targeted to users because you can monetise the content better.

"We can be much more smart about what type of ads we play but also ensure the ads are being played - and we can also do much more tracking. It's going to be a win for everyone, especially on the advertising side," Chandra said.

"When you look at the technology available to Google and other technology providers you can very succinctly localise content because you can track where people are viewing from. The localisation of the content is a very powerful way of getting more relevant information to consumer so I am sure that will be built into their technology," Leesong said.

Users of Google TV may search for television contents like free-to-air programs, DVR recordings and YouTube clips, and may also use other functions like photo slide-shows, gaming, music and traditional internet functions.

Google TV is scheduled for release in the US later this year and will be availabe to some other countries in 2011. Chandra could not give a date as to when the platform will arrive in Australia because of the complexities of partnering with local broadcasters and complying with individual regulatory requirements.

"The goal is to internationalise as soon as possible but we are still trying to figure out which countries to target for 2011," he said.