WSJ.com reports that Google has begun trials of free streaming videos.

“Google’s move is a key test of how online ads can finance consumer access to premium video content on the Web, the way TV commercials have supported broadcast television for decades. It could impact the efforts of companies such as Apple Computer Inc. to charge users fees to access popular videos from the Internet. If successful, the video advertising could eventually develop into a significant new extension of Google’s ad system that generated over $6 billion in revenue last year,” it says.