Confirming a report from two days ago, Google announced dozens of new, original content channels coming to YouTube this November, through tie-ups with major publishers, movie stars, comedians, sports associations, and more.
"Wonderful things happen when cool technology meets great entertainment," Google wrote in a blog post published late Friday.
Google posted a list of 66 upcoming channels, but a few that caught our eye were: "The Onion", "SoulPancake" produced by Rainn Wilson (of The Office fame, pictured left), "WWE Fan Nation", "Stan Lee's World of Heroes", "Modern Mom" with Brooke Burke, and a Latino celebrity channel from IconicTV.
"These channels will have something for everyone, whether you're a mom, a comedy fan, a sports nut, a music lover or a pop-culture maven," Google wrote. "Our goal with this channels expansion, along with the grants and educational programs we've launched in the past year, is to bring an even broader range of entertainment to YouTube, giving you more reasons to keep coming back again and again. And for advertisers, these channels will represent a new way to engage and reach their global consumers."
You'll be able to watch these channels on any Internet-connected device, but no doubt Google hopes you'll be streaming content through Google TV, which received a major update on Friday that integrates Android 3.1 aka Honeycomb.
The push into original YouTube programming may be intended to address previous complaints about cable networks blocking streaming through Google TV. A Google TV spokesman declined to confirm this with my colleague Mark Hachman, but said that the top five "channels" on YouTube receive as many viewers as the top five cable networks.
In April, the Wall Street Journal reported that Google was sinking $100 million to bring more original programming to YouTube. Over the summer, it was also rumored that Google wanted to buy Hulu to boost this effort, but a few weeks ago, Hulu’s owners decided to take the site off the block.