Jan 15, 2011 15:10 GMT  ·  By

While YouTube dominates online video, there is one area where it hasn't made much inroad, live streaming. A number of live streaming sites are battling for supremacy, this while YouTube has no such capabilities of any sort. It's been working on it though, but the last round of very public testing showed that the technology was not ready.

The site is taking another try at it, but this time around it's keeping a low profile and is leaving the promoting to the partners involved, according to New Tee Vee.

One major test will come next week when Revision3's popular DiggNation will be streamed live via YouTube. This will actually be the show's first live episode, barring a live stream from a tech conference.

This will be just another test and there are no plans of making it a regular thing. YouTube's live streaming capabilities have improved lately, but the big audience the show is expected to draw should be the biggest test to date.

If things go smoothly, YouTube may be moving closer to making the feature available to a wider number of partners.

YouTube has been toying with the idea for years now. The biggest step came last autumn when several YouTube partners streamed live episodes in a two-day period.

Google made quite a lot of fuss about the event and expected to draw in a large audience. However, it seems that users were just not that interesting and, coupled with the technical issues, the whole thing proved disappointing.

This explains why YouTube is taking a more cautions approach this time around. But the potential of live streaming is to great to pass and YouTube is not giving up just yet.

Still, YouTube is probably not looking to become another JustinTV or Ustream. The streaming feature is aimed at partners which provide a steady supply of videos, not the average YouTube user.

The site has only managed to get away from the copyright infringement stigma to start things all over again while also opening itself up to a lot more risks.