SEOUL, Nov. 22 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Electronics Co.'s president said Tuesday it is in the final stage of negotiations with Google Inc. to manufacture Internet-connected TVs powered by the U.S. company's software.

Yoon Book-keun, president of Samsung's digital media business, said talks between the two companies on Google TV are at the last stage, confirming an earlier report by Reuters.

Samsung has not yet decided if it will unveil the Samsung-backed Google TV during a January consumer electronics show in Las Vegas, Yoon told reporters on the sidelines of a conference.

The adoption of Google's TV operating system by Samsung, the world's largest TV supplier, will likely boost the U.S. search engine operator's TV project, which has not made a big mark in the market.

Market watchers expect TVs to be the next battle stage for global mobile software companies, such as Google, Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp., as consumers seek to watch, share and access content from multiple screens. 

The Google TV project to seamlessly mesh the Internet with the living room staple faced a backlash when one of its partners announced departure earlier this month.

Logitech International SA said it will stop producing the set-top boxes for Google TVs after disappointing sales of early models, leaving Sony Corp. as the only Google TV partner.

Google, which introduced an update to its TV software last month, has been seeking to woo Korean TV vendors, the world's two-biggest players in the market, to expand sales.

LG Electronics Inc., the world's second-largest maker of flat-screen TVs, plans to unveil its Google TV at the January trade show in Las Vegas, Bloomberg reported earlier citing two unnamed sources.

Samsung and LG manufacture smart TVs running on their own in-house operating system, which offer video-on-demand, Internet surfing and search services and other functions through applications