Google Adds Video Search

Updated from 3:58 p.m. EDT

Google(GOOG Quote) quietly added video search to its sprawling array of search applications Thursday. The move may seem insignificant, but it is one of those flaps of the butterfly wings that can ripple into much bigger change.

As one of its many research projects, Google has been adding videos to its library from C-SPAN, PBS and several Bay Area affiliates of national networks into its search database. On Thursday, it issued a call for video uploads on its blog, raising the curtain on a kind of open-source donation of videos into its database.

On the one hand, Google's initiative could simply take all those cable-access programs that very few people want to watch and open them up to the entire world -- where very few people will want to watch. (Imagine a gallery of all those "American Idol" rejections.)

On the other hand, it could extend niche videos to the masses, connecting hard-to-find content with specialized audiences hungry for it. Like a TiVo on steroids, video search could turn the Internet into a compelling, customized alternative to television, where viewers are spoon-fed what executives decide to give them.

Just as significant, Google says it's going to be selling some of the videos that its search results deliver up, taking a yet-to-be-determined share of the revenue. With this tiny step, Google is moving away from being purely a search company that makes money from ads and toward an e-commerce company peddling content.

"Eventually your work will be included in Google Video, where users will be able to search, preview, play and purchase it," reads an open call for submissions on a blog that Google maintains. The interesting word here is "purchase." It's perhaps the first signal Google has ever given that it would sell content through its Web site. That could turn into a major nightmare for Amazon.com(AMZN Quote) and e-tailers that focus on entertainment content.