Every evening, tens of millions of people enter their homes, set down their keys, and waste little time in turning on the TV.  Bing’s taken a good shot at becoming part of their lives, then, by integrating local TV listings into its regular search results.

To be clear: this is not Bing’s answer to Google TV.  Then again, given how Google TV has failed to find a lot of fans, that’s probably a good thing.

A post on the Bing Search Blog instead explained, "If you are one of those people who watch TV on an actual TV, we’re pulling in guide information to help you easily find what’s on in your area from your service provider, so you can make sure you are on the couch or setting your DVR to catch your favorite shows."

A whole lot of geographic regions should be covered, too, as over 2,000 TV listings are supposed to be part of the effort.

The picture below should give you a little more information about how the feature works (sorry for the blurriness), and there’s also a video if you’re interested.

This may not be the greatest thing Microsoft’s ever done – many folks will be aware of when their favorite shows air and/or be used to consulting another guide – but the upgrade’s a definite way of increasing Bing’s usefulness.