In the past I have used numerous streaming services such as Qik, Ustream and more recently Justin.tv
One of the (recent) downsides of these free services is that the advertising has enroached so much into the stream, including pre-roll advertising, that as a tool for the informal streaming of conferences and events, it is just not worth the bother.
So you can imagine my interest in the recent Cult of Mac report that in a rumoured possible revamp of MobileMe, Apple are working on a live streaming service along the lines of Ustream.
Now the question is, will this be an advertising supported feature (with iAds) or will it be free of adverts. Remember that Apple have that big server farm, so have the technical capability to deliver a smooth service. Facetime is already with us on the Mac, so in many ways we already have the technology in place. A streaming service would allow you to “Facetime” to lots of people, and not just one person.
Of course this is just a rumour and there are always lots of Apple rumours.