YouTube to Live-Stream Live Event

YouTube will host a “YouTube Live” event in San Francisco on Nov. 22 featuring a cavalcade of web stars that will be live-streamed on the web. This begs the question: Is YouTube finally going to unveil a live-streaming product?

A comment by Steve Chen about YouTube working on a live-streaming product to be released this year set the Internet a-buzzin’ back in February. Then in August, sources told Silicon Alley Insider that YouTube never seriously looked at the live video service. So how is YouTube going to live-stream this event?

It seems unlikely that the largest video site in the world would rely on a smaller, outside company like Ustream or Justin.tv to broadcast it. YouTube heavily manages its public appearances, and parent company Google has more of a build-it-yourself ethic (Gmail, Google Docs, Chrome, Android) than a borrow-it one.

So does that mean YouTube is actually working on a live-streaming product, for real? A company with that many resources could certainly hobble something together, even if it was just for the event. We’ve contacted YouTube PR to find out more and will update this post as we find out details.

Speaking of details. According to the announcement page, the YouTube Live event will be “a celebration of the site’s vast user communities; everyone from bedroom vloggers to world-famous rock stars, musicians, comedians, athletes, artists and more. Part concert, part variety show and part party, the event will bring to life many of the amazing videos and talent that YouTube viewers have already made popular on the site.”

Of course, I can’t help but think YouTube has been paying close attention to this blog. We have our “NewTeeVee Live” event, they put on “YouTube Live.” We’re holding ours in November, they’re holding theirs in November. We’ll have web video stars (Fred!), they have web video stars (Michael Buckley)…