Perhaps to one-up Hulu's lack of TV support in its latest Desktop app, YouTube revealed a version of the site optimized for television viewing
Unfortunately, it's hampered by the same content provider issues that are giving Hulu so much trouble.
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"YouTube XL" ditches the traditional smattering of channels and options in favor of a few simple choices in an easily-navigated menu. It's sleeker than YouTube TV -- launched with game consoles in mind earlier this year -- and it supports remote control browsing. Any device that can connect to the Internet supports YouTube XL.
But not all of YouTube's content comes along with it. As you can see from the photo above, many of YouTube's full-length TV shows aren't available through the TV-optimized version of the site. At the risk of sounding immature, I cannot put into words how stupid this is. Content providers have set up an arbitrary barrier whose only purpose is to limit how convenient it is to watch videos on the Web.
It's the same situation that occured with Hulu's Desktop app, whose terms of service specifically prohibits installation on anything but a personal computer. This time, though, workarounds are harder because YouTube XL is a Web site, not a computer program. You can't simply plug a computer into a TV and visit the site, because the content won't be there. To watch shows like Star Trek on their TVs, users will have stick to the original site.
Someday, someone in Big Content will understand what's wrong with this picture.
