Google Adds Video to News Pages

Video footage of broadcast news items is now being featured on the Google News site.

This week the company launched the new service which enables users to watch a video report of a story by opening a YouTube player on the page.

A number of news providers now have video items included on the site, such as Reuters, the US television network CBS and several local American broadcast stations owned by the Hearst Corporation.

Google, which bought YouTube in 2006, has stated through its News Blog that the idea behind the enhanced service is to provide a “broader spectrum of info available”.

It also noted: “We're working with YouTube so you can easily view online videos without any downloads required and regardless of what browser you're using.”

At present, the service is available to users in the UK, the Republic of Ireland and the US, with Google aiming to offer it in non-English language editions in the near future.