YouTube Live: The Makeover Continues

Another sign that Google is positioning YouTube to compete with broadcast and cable Boob tube, as well atomic number 3 other video-cyclosis services the likes of Hulu and Netflix: YouTube Go, a new branch of the hugely hot video-sharing avail, debuted happening Friday.

As its gens suggests, YouTube Live provides viable-cyclosis events rather than the recorded videos saved on the regular YouTube site.

"With over 2 jillio views a day, it's easy to flirt with YouTube as a piazza to check videos recorded in the past. But you've told us you wish more–and that includes events taking place just now," Google managers Joshua Siegel and Christopher Hamilton wrote in a Friday post on The Administrative unit YouTube Web log.

The new live-streaming service of process includes YouTube Active, a home page where you'll ascertain events flowing at this very moment, besides as information on events slated for today, tomorrow, and the next seven days. When you subscribe to one or more YouTube Live partners, you'll be notified of upcoming live streams on your YouTube home page.

YouTube Resilient [Click to Rapid climb]

YouTube has streamed a miscellany of live events in the past, including musical comedy events and cricket matches. But the original live television channel is a more joint effort to establish YouTube Eastern Samoa a broadcast-style destination for real-time entertainment.

Ab initio, the live-streaming beta program will only let select YouTube partners "with accounts in good standing" to teem ringing content on the site.

"The goal is to provide thousands of partners with the capability to live rain bucket from their channels in the months ahead," wrote Siegel and Amy Lyon. "In order to ensure a great live stream viewing experience, we'll flap this offering out incrementally terminated time."

The New YouTube

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that YouTube plans to offer about 20 premium channels, each showcasing 5 to 10 hours of original, broadcast-caliber programming a week, by the end of the year.

Google's reported $100 million redevelopment of its video-sharing service could put down YouTube As a strong competitor to subscription-supported cyclosis services such as Hulu Plus and Netflix, the latter of which recently proclaimed plans to distribute original programing in gain to its usual do of movies and TV episodes initial shown elsewhere.

The addition of animate programming might also pass on YouTube a competitive edge over Hulu Plus and Netflix, neither of which currently streams live events. As I've erudite firsthand, one of the drawbacks of canceling cable TV religious service–peculiarly if you live in an area with poor terminated-the-air circulate reception–is that it's often al dente to watch rattling-time telecasting programming, including sports and awards shows that aren't streamed live.

It stiff to be seen whether YouTube–surgery more likely a agio version of YouTube–will become a subscription service like Hulu Plus and Netflix. Whatever happens, YouTube seems determined to move beyond its modest origins. Subsequently all, you can only follow cute cats dancing connected pianos so many times.

Contact Jeff Bertolucci via Twitter (@jbertolucci ) or at jbertolucci.blogspot.com .