YouTube adds stage for live events

YouTube on Friday added a stage for live events as the world's leading video-sharing website continued its effort to woo viewers away from television programming.

YouTube Live launched online at youtube.com/live, letting people subscribe to watch shows or events streamed by the Google-owned operation's partners.

A "Digitour" performance by top YouTube musicians was schedule for live streaming at 7:00 pm (0200 GMT Saturday).

YouTube planned to gradually roll out a test version of a platform that would allow established video contributors with accounts in good standing to stream their own real-time shows.

YouTube has live-streamed concerts, sporting events and interviews in the past on an intermittent basis. The Live platform would make real-time programming a standard part of the service.

"The goal is to provide thousands of partners with the capability to live stream from their channels in the months ahead," product manager Joshua Siegel and product marketing manager Christopher Hamilton said in a blog post.

More than two billion videos are viewed daily at YouTube, which has been gradually modifying its service to get people to spend more time at the website and less time staring at television screens.

(c) 2011 AFP