YouTube TV

YouTube on Thursday announced the launch of YouTube for Television, a section of the site with a new user interface designed for easier viewing on TV screens.

"[T]he TV Web site offers a dynamic, lean-back, 10-foot television viewing experience through a streamlined interface that enables you to discover, watch, and share YouTube videos on any TV screen with just a few quick clicks of your remote control," YouTube explained in a blog post. "With enlarged text and simplified navigation, it makes watching YouTube on your TV as easy and intuitive as possible."

One way YouTube is making itself more TV-friendly is by including an auto-play option that lets viewers watch related videos in sequence, without the interaction required on a computer.

Initially, YouTube on Television (www.youtube.com/tv) is available as a beta test through Sony (NYSE: SNE) PS3 and Nintendo Wii game consoles, in 22 countries and in 12 languages. Additional devices are likely to be added in the future.

YouTube began its migration from the computer in the office to the TV in the living room in June 2007 via Apple TV. Other device makers like Sony, Hewlett-Packard, Panasonic, TiVo, and Verismo soon followed Apple's lead, aided by the addition of new APIs for partners and external developers in March 2008.

YouTube's aim in providing APIs for developers is "YouTube on any screen, any time," as the company puts it.

What's less clear is whether anyone is watching YouTube on TV. TVs, after all, tend to have access to professionally produced content that people, not to mention advertisers, will pay for. Such content presumably fares well when competing for viewers against less-polished amateur videos on YouTube.

A YouTube spokesperson didn't immediately respond to a request to provide statistics detailing the number of people viewing YouTube through televisions and other non-PC hardware.

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Source : www.informationweek.com