YouTube is notorious for its obscure videos ranging in everything from drunken college kids and singing cats to "Two Girls, One Cup" reaction videos. Now those same videos that have given even the biggest idiots and dumbest guidos their 15 minutes of fame are available on the big screen.
In a Wednesday press release from TiVo, the company announced that by year's end, its subscribers will be able to search, browse and watch YouTube videos directly from their television sets.
According to the press release, YouTube is attempting to move beyond the Web, extending its service past the 66 million viewers it has already due to its availability on cell phones and Apple TV, a box that streams video from computers to the television.
Now, TiVo users with a broadband Internet connection and TiVo Series3 box will be able to access the popular online video provider from their television. By using TiVo's digital-recording-service DVR, subscribers can select a video from the Web and record it for playback on their TVs.
Subscribers will be able to use TiVo's convenient and familiar user interface to watch, share and discuss the world's most popular online videos and even log in to their accounts directly from their TiVo boxes and access their favorite YouTube playlists and channels.
In a recent press release, Tara Maitra, vice president and general manager of content services at TiVo Inc., states her company is enthusiastic to work with YouTube and thinks it's a new step in the advancement of technology.
"We're delighted to be working with the world's leading online-video community so that TiVo subscribers can access YouTube's popular content on the TV via the TiVo DVR," states Maitra. "Being able to make available YouTube videos to the TiVo subscriber base using one device, one remote and one user interface is another major step in our commitment to combine all of your television and Web video viewing options in one easy to use service."
There has been movement toward converging media, especially between the Internet and other devices that have previously only been used for single purposes like cell phones and televisions.
Lindsay Hoffman, communications professor at the university, says there is a clear reason for the merging of different types of media.
"The main reason is to gain and retain viewers, and to be on the cutting edge of technology," Hoffman says. "This will appeal to those viewers who want to watch the type of content they can see on YouTube with others without having to lean over someone's shoulder to view it on their computer."
Even with the availability of various Internet applications on other media devices like TV, Hoffman says she thinks it will still be a long time before any type of full convergence will take place and is doubtful that a complete substitution of television for Internet will occur any time soon.
"I'm not sure that's in the near future because of the different experiences each medium provides," she says. "The television is an audience-based medium where people can gather to view content. The Internet is more personal and customized to one individual."
For the average YouTube user, this service reaches far beyond the basic computer into new devices, broadening the range of users to epic proportions.
Phil Kranyak, president of the Rubber Chickens, a group that has many videos of its own comedy sketches on YouTube, says he is excited about the new media convergence because there is now a chance for the Rubber Chickens' videos to be seen by a wider audience than ever before. He says the short-form comedy performed by the Rubber Chickens is perfect for this type of media.
"This might change the demographics of people who watch," Kranyak says. "The videos will get to be seen by people other than those who are already familiar with them."
Eric Sweder, a member of the Rubber Chickens, expresses a similar enthusiasm for the upcoming technology and says the amount of exposure the convergence could provide is just what small or unknown people or groups need.
"The greater amount of media that we get is good for the group," Sweder says. "A system with no corporate control like YouTube is good. We are looking for as much exposure as possible."
Now that YouTube will be available on television, questions are raised about the authorization and extent to which the videos could be used.
Although the convergence could provide some much-needed exposure, Kranyak says he has some concerns about what this may mean for those uploading their videos onto YouTube. Since the videos will now be available on TV, he says authorization could be an issue.
"You can stay rather anonymous on YouTube," Kranyak says. "I would only have a problem if they started doing some sort of TV show - putting videos up and talking about them in that sense. It's more than you signed up for."
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