For the past year, people have been suffering through the technical live streaming problems of Ustream.tv and Justin.tv, wondering why one of the big players wasn’t stepping up with an alternative.
Consider yourself stepped. YouTube has officially, albeit tentatively, entered the live streaming world. As of now, you can go watch live programming streaming on YouTube. This includes a small variety of concerts, how-to demonstrations and monologues. LIVE. YouTube has been clear about its efforts to turn into television. Not just a television station. But TV itself. Where all content lives.
Unlike UStream.tv and Justin.tv, streaming capabilities with YouTube Live have not been offered to the general public (likely out of ChatRoulette fears). But when that happens, the democratization of live TV will have happened as well.