Video-search engine blinkx wants to change the online viewing experience for consumers. Its new BBTV service incorporates Internet searches, online maps and IMDb into blockbuster movies, their favorite sitcoms, video clips, sporting events and other programming on blinkx. Its biggest selling point: BBTV lets users browse for related information on the content they’re viewing.

“BBTV is about delivering TV over the Internet,” says Suranga Chandratillake, blinkx’s founder and CEO. “But it’s also about connecting that TV experience with a wealth of information on the Internet, and not appearing as just another layer floating above it. The Internet and TV already do their jobs very well - but separately.”

TV has increasingly become an interactive activity, according to a recent Harris Interactive survey conducted on behalf of blinkx. The survey found that 78% of U.S. adults go online while watching TV. What is more, 25% of these adults, known as “double dippers,” often are looking for information related to the content they’re watching. Using online buttons, BBTV lets viewers simultaneously check out background information on actors, directors, episodes history and location of the show at any specific point in the video. Results are displayed in a box that users can mouse over.

Initially supplying content to blinkx BBTV is Dogwoof, an independent film distributor. Over the next several weeks, blinkx plans on adding dozens of channels and long-form content, including blockbuster movies, documentaries, sitcoms, independent films, news shows and sporting events, Chandratillake says.