Google TV Box to Cost $299.99, Include Keyboard, Logitech Says

Logitech International SA’s Google TV box, a device that lets users view Web content on a television monitor, will cost $299.99.

The device is called Revue and will boast a keyboard that doubles as a remote control, Logitech Chief Executive Officer Jerry Quindlen said at a briefing in San Francisco today.

Logitech joins Sony Corp. and Intel Corp. in backing Google Inc.’s effort to get more consumers to use the Internet in their living rooms. The companies are trying to benefit from growing demand for Web-based programming and information on large screens and will compete with devices including Apple Inc.’s Apple TV.

The service will include video-on-demand products from Amazon.com Inc., Netflix Inc. and Hulu, a video site partly owned by Walt Disney Co., Google has said. The software is adapted from the company’s Android operating system and Chrome Internet browser to display television programming from cable and satellite sources and video from the Web. Applications that have been written for existing versions of Android, used in mobile phones, will now work on television screens.