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The savior of old media could be the kingpin of new media. All Google needs is buy-in from those traditional media types in the television industry to fulfill the dream of getting more advertising on screens everywhere.

Google's key to success will be their TV Ads service, an extension of the company's AdWords product. TV Ads has been in testing, first with a tiny cable company in Northern California, now with satellite TV firm Dish Network.

A prominent Googler in those TV plans, TV Ads director Michael Steib, told attendees of the Television Bureau of Advertising's conference what they were missing out on, according to Broadcasting & Cable:

Steib estimated that 6,000-7,000 national advertisers should be on television but currently are not. “There are not nearly enough people advertising on television today,” he said of marketers who stick with direct mail and Google’s AdSense program, which posts Web ads that target users’ online behavior. “They think TV isn’t for them. We think TV is for them.”

Between measurable analytics, an expanded pool of national advertisers, and Google's stated desire to not compete with local ad sales teams at TV stations, it sounds like an irresistible deal. But those listening to Steib may have felt a much different emotion, as Silicon Alley Insider suggested:

Broadcasting & Cable described the room's reaction as "curious." We weren't there, but our hunch is that the room was also "terrified." Unlike their counterparts at the local newspapers, TV stations still haven't had their ad revenues shredded by the Internet -- yet. But it's going to happen at some point. The question facing station owners: Do they work with Google -- or wait and hope someone else offers a better choice?

That begs the question of who might be in a position to offer that better option. Perhaps Mark Cuban will chime in on the issue, as his HD Net has moved into 66 million homes via cable and satellite.