TiVo Inc. the company that made its name by letting users skip television commercials, said on Monday it is working on technology that lets viewers search for specific advertisements.

The technology, which is expected to be launched in early 2006, is among the advertising industry’s latest efforts to reach consumers using high-tech products to escape the traditional ad pitch.

The advertising service will let subscribers search for a product by category or keyword, then TiVo would deliver matching commercials to the consumer’s set-top box.

The Alviso, California-based company’s development of new advertising models has been one of the key incentives to cable companies in signing a deal with TiVo, analysts have said.

Source: Reuters