Taking that one step further, on Monday morning Google launched Hangouts On Air, an extension of the Google+ group video chat that allows users to stream Hangouts live for anyone across the world to watch. Just like local access, you can broadcast your ideas, music or wacky opinions into the online ether and hope that at least someone is interested in what you have to say.

“This is a much more efficient and pervasive way to organize a conversation,” Hangouts product manager Nikhyl Singhal told AllThingsD in an interview. “Maybe I needed satellite trucks and switchboards for something like this in the past.”

It works the same as an existing Hangout: Host a video chat, with up to nine other people joining you in the conversation. But flip the “enable Hangouts On Air” switch, and your chat goes from private to public. What’s more, you’re not limited to broadcasting to Google+ users alone; embed the Hangout in your Web page or your YouTube channel, and folks can watch from there, too. It’s also possible to record the broadcast for replay later.

Yes, part of this is to allow the everyman the ability to speak to a larger audience, similar to the way YouTube broke new ground in the user-generated content realm back in 2005.

When giving users content carte blanche, however, the inevitable questions arise: How will Google deal with hate speech, illegal activity and porn? I’d urge you to take a spin on Chatroulette if you don’t think this is inevitable.

Though Singhal wouldn’t get into specifics, he said Hangouts already has plenty of help to deal with that from YouTube. “How do you flag copyrighted content? How do you deal with a live conversation? We’re leveraging the expertise of YouTube, who have been thinking about this problem for several years. The technology that we’ve employed — support, operational pieces, copyright rules — all of that is based on YouTube’s experience.”

Aside from potential obscenity, there’s a whole other part to the initiative: Catering to those who already have a following. Google has already hosted On Air Hangouts with big names like David Beckham, the Muppets and President Barack Obama, and the company has invested time and resources into training other large outlets — like the New York Times and Wired, to name a couple — on how to run their own On Air Hangouts.

To some degree, it can’t hurt for these stars and media outlets to give Hangouts a try. It’s free and easy publicity for them to do a quick online chat (for celebs, it’s like an online press junket for an upcoming film or TV release). And there’s also the potential to drive traffic to other pages.

Of course, Google wants to bring aboard as many people as possible. While Larry Page has no problem touting Google+ sign-up numbers, user engagement is a whole other issue. According to a comScore report released in February, users on average spend mere minutes a month on Google+, while that number is measured in hours on Facebook.

And, now more than ever, it’s important to remind users about Hangouts, one of Google’s strongest advantages over Facebook. Currently, Facebook offers Skype integration for one-on-one video chat between users, but lacks the group chat option that Google+ touts so heavily.

Thing is, people actually want to use Facebook. A lot. The jury is still out on Google+. So perhaps giving users the chance to blab about whatever they want, on air and uninhibited, will actually convince them to spend more time on the site.

At the very least, they won’t be sandwiched in between infomercials in a 2 am time slot.

(Image courtesy of quicheisinsane/Flickr, doctored by Mike Isaac)

CBS (CBS) will join previously announced partners Time Warner (TWX), which is offering up programming from its Turner channels and HBO; Liberty Media’s Starz; and smaller players like Scripps, Rainbow and A&E. The twist is that CBS is the only broadcaster to sign up for the trial.

I noted that this was in the works last month, and it makes plenty of sense: For one thing, CBS would like to tie up with Comcast (CMCSA) as a way to extract “retransmission fees” from the cable company for the rights to carry its programming, which it currently doesn’t get paid for. The broadcaster also needs a big ally, as its broadcast competitors at GE’s (GE) NBC, News Corp.’s (NWS) Fox and Disney’s (DIS) ABC have already tied up with Hulu.

Comcast’s trial program, which is supposed to start this month and which parallels plans being promoted throughout the cable industry, is in many ways a response to Hulu, which has unnerved the pay TV business. The industry is worried about the specter of “cable cutters” who dump their cable TV subscriptions and watch free Web TV instead. So it’s trying to convince subscribers that if they keep paying up, they’ll get to see whatever they want online, legally.

CBS, meanwhile, passed on the chance to join with Hulu early on, and has since been complaining that the joint venture’s business terms undermine broadcasters’ chances of making real money on the Web.

CBS and Comcast aren’t talking about what the economics of this tie-up look like, but given that it’s a trial, it’s likely there isn’t much to talk about yet. But ultimately, CBS imagines a world where cable companies pay it for the right to put its shows on the Web and where it can charge Internet advertisers the same rates it gets for on-air TV.

That’s a long way off, but this is a start. “This is about extending the economics of the television market to an already independent, healthy online market,” says CBS digital boss Quincy Smith.

UPDATE:  Comcast has a few more programmers on board. In addition to Scripps, A&E and Rainbow, which I’ve written about before, but which have not been formally announced, Comcast is bringing in BBC and MGM Impact, a VOD channel it runs with MGM.

Here’s the release.

CBS TO PARTICIPATE IN COMCAST’S ON DEMAND ONLINE ?NATIONWIDE TRIAL

As the First Broadcaster To Participate, CBS Agrees to Test Standards and Principles for
“TV Everywhere” Model

NEW YORK and PHILADELPHIA, July 14, 2009–CBS Corporation (NYSE:  CBS.A) and Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) announced today that CBS is the first broadcast network to participate in Comcast’s technical trial of On Demand Online. The new service will significantly expand the number of top-rated TV shows available online and across platforms at no additional charge to Comcast’s cable customers while delivering increased advertising value to content owners. During the course of the trial, CBS plans to test various types of current and library content.

“CBS and Comcast share the same vision of giving consumers more–more content, in more places,” said Matt Bond, Executive Vice President of Content Acquisition, Comcast Cable. “On Demand Online is a major step in extending consumers’ television experiences online, and ultimately across platforms by giving any television network, including top brands like CBS, the ability to make their content available on the Web.”

“CBS is very supportive of initiatives that help extend our content to new platforms in such a way that we gain new audiences and additional value for our advertisers,” said Quincy Smith, Chief Executive Officer, CBS Interactive. “Comcast is already a trusted platform to distribute CBS content on air as well as on demand; expanding this relationship online is a logical step. In addition, CBS’s strategy has always been about open, non-exclusive distribution of our content in a consumer friendly way, which is a core tenant of TV Everywhere and On Demand Online.”

CBS’s participation in Comcast’s technical trial comes on the heels of last month’s joint announcement between Time Warner Inc. and Comcast which introduced a set of principles called “TV Everywhere.” Developed by the two companies, the principles are designed to serve as a framework to facilitate deployment of online television content in a way that is consumer friendly and pro-competitive.

Comcast will begin its technical trial of On Demand Online with approximately 5,000 customers from across the U.S. in the coming weeks–the first national trial of its kind. A major focus of the trial is to test Comcast’s new “authentication” technology, which will allow Comcast customers to receive the same content online for free that they subscribe to on TV. The service will utilize a simple log-on system for streaming content and, in the future, will allow for download content to go. The On Demand Online service will roll-out in phases, adding new features, functionality and content over time to provide consumers with a new way to watch television.

On Demand Online is part of Comcast’s Project Infinity, the company’s long-term vision to give customers an ever growing amount of video content on multiple platforms, whenever they want.

And here’s that stunning footage of a real Australian morning show reporting Goldblum’s death that Colbert used in his bit. Note that they had time to assemble a b-roll montage before going on air with this.