The story CNN incorporated Google+ Hangouts into wasn't breaking international news -- fan reaction to soccer clubs' transfer deadline -- but it's a big vote of confidence for Google's video-conferencing technology.

The segment for CNN's show "World Sport" included viewpoints from soccer fans, one in Scotland and one in Malaysia. It appears their comments were edited from a Hangout a producer held before the show aired.

The next step, of course, will be Hangouts broadcast live. We'd love to see Anderson Cooper host a Hangout with revolutionaries in the Middle East rather than a panel of talking heads in Washington and New York.

Skype, which Microsoft bought for $8.5B in May, has become a standard newsroom tool for interviewing people who would be hard to reach otherwise, and it definitely doesn't hurt that it's free. With Google Hangouts just as cheap -- and easier to use -- we think more big broadcasters will get on board.

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