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

The New YouTube

The 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 of its video-sharing service could position YouTube as a strong competitor to subscription-based streaming services such as Hulu Plus and Netflix, the latter of which recently announced plans in addition to its usual fare of movies and TV episodes first shown elsewhere.

The addition of live programming might also give YouTube a competitive edge over Hulu Plus and Netflix, neither of which currently streams live events. As , one of the drawbacks of canceling cable TV service--particularly if you live in an area with poor over-the-air broadcast reception--is that it's often hard to watch real-time television programming, including sports and awards shows that aren't streamed live.