Google’s big Google TV news, or part of it, may have been detailed early in news on Sunday. The Android TV platform’s YouTube app is being updated with a much stronger emphasis on channels ahead of original content plans. Matching up is a new discover feature that lets viewers find content by the category rather than just the channel.
Individual channels have their own pages and make it quicker to subscribe. While it’s relevant for all videos, a new option to see either more from the same user or related videos helps see more in a given channel. It’s now possible to get the info screen for a video afterwards to give it a thumbs up or down, comment, or add it to a playlist.
The YouTube update comes in the “next few days” and will be available as an update from inside Android Market.
If not the big news itself, the YouTube upgrade could lay the groundwork for a formal rollout of the first original material Google detailed late last year. The strategy will see a mix of traditional TV production houses and well-known Internet video producers produce material that will only show on YouTube. Google hasn’t confirmed it, but it may have live streaming along with pre-recorded clips.
