For faculty eager to see iTunes U media streaming to mobile devices, there may soon be an alternative. This past Wednesday, YouTube announced a new partnership with universities like UC Berkeley and USC that provides custom channels for university media available freely over the web. Berkeley’s initial offering represents over 300 hours of video and its YouTube presence — along with those from other universities — will likely only get bigger. (More stories about YouTube’s new university channels can be found at the Associated Press and the Chronicle for Higher Ed)

For students tired of lengthy downloads, the familiar YouTube interface and handiness of streaming media will likely carry the day. At least for now, YouTube U provides a clean interface with few of the distracting thumbnails and links that clutter the original site. And the ability to link video in external sites and blogs mean that the content can easily be referenced and repurposed by the broader net community in ways not yet possible with iTunes U. In fact, embedded links also make it possible to access media within course environments like Blackboard where content can be played directly from a course module or discussion board.

Currently neither university’s YouTube U site is compatible with the iPhone. Though the pages load, Mobile Safari still lacks Flash support for the videos, and individual content doesn’t seem to be searchable through the YouTube applet. However, YouTube’s increasing support of the H.264 codec promises future compatibility and a powerful new platform for distributing educational media. So once compatibility is resolved, the only question will be how professors and their academic YouTube will fare in head-to-head competition with Miss Teen USA, Charlie the Unicorn, and those guys singing on treadmills…