During his keynote address at Streaming Media West yesterday, Google TV project lead Rishi Chandra trumped any notions that Google TV was attempting to end traditional cable and satellite for good. I was able to catch the second half of the presentation, including the Q and A session, and one of Chandra’s final discussion points was that cable and satellite is not going away any time soon. “We are not looking to replace cable,” said Chandra,  ”our goal is not to replace it but to add to it.”

He also reiterated that Google TV is just a platform, and that Google currently has no plans of getting into the communications business and become the next version of a cable provider. Hollywood execs are “misunderstanding” what Google TV is meant to be, according to Chandra, but their argument is that the ad potential on Internet TV versus a traditional desktop browser is not as great, hence the networks banning Google TV devices.

Yesterday’s Q and A was rather short, so I did not get a chance to ask Mr. Chandra what Google was planning to do if they are unable to come to an agreement with the major networks. In answering another question, however, he did mention that they are still working on their negotiations with Hulu, which may ultimately be their only chance at getting some of the major network content back on Google TV.

[via TMCNet]