Techotic

Chief Technology Officer and YouTube co-founder Steve Chen has said in an interview that the ever popular video sharing site has advanced plans to begin video streaming later this year.

He said that live video streaming has always been an ambition of YouTube, but until recently, they did not have the resources required to provide quality streaming content. With an injection of Google cash, it has now become practical to provide the service.

YouTube will actually be the last major video sharing, provider, to add live streaming content. This has allowed smaller sites such as JustinTV, BlogTV, Stickam and Livevideo to gain significant ground from YouTube.

Once YouTube goes ‘live’, it is assumed that these sites will lose all the ground they have gained in the fight for casual viewers. YouTube is after all, is easily the largest video site online.

Google’s business plan when acquiring YouTube was to move quickly to add live streaming, especially as the same technology can then be used in other Google services, including Google Apps. The new service will also be easily capable of providing videoconferencing services for companies.

YouTube was sold last year to Google for $1.6 billion.

Yahoo currently runs a similar service in what it terms “an experimental release”, which began in February. One feature Yahoo has that YouTube is not planning is the ability for viewers to see other people who are watching the same video at the same time. It is also possible for Yahoo clients to enjoy live chat while watching the video with others online.