Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has finally decided to test the waters of television advertising with a large partner, joining up with Charlie Ergen's EchoStar Communications (NYSE: DISH) satellite service yesterday to place commercials on the Dish Network's 125 national programming networks. This comes as no surprise really, as Google has been itching to get into the advertising business in a large way, beyond the web advertising business it currently dominates. Is this Google's big first test? You bet it is.

What will be interesting to watch is just how Google will take its online advertising platform and work it into the traditional television broadcasting business. The deal makes provisions for advertisers to use Google's AdWords automated auction interface to bid on Dish Network's TV ad spots. In what seems like a forgone conclusion with Google involved, advertisers can upload their TV commercials and select the desired time of day and channel -- very similar to how Google runs its web-based advertising network on the AdWords platform. Advertisers can then choose regional or national area coverage and can target the ad based on a show's demographics.

This is Google's biggest test yet of the ability to transition its advertising model from one medium to another (the "new" web to the "old" television), but make no mistake -- this is only a test. This blog post over at ZDNet echoes the same sentiment. I'm pretty sure Google is providing EchoStar a fat check in order for this high-profile test to begin. How it ends will be the important thing to watch, though -- if it does end.