The Joost is on the loose

Author: Ryan Garside
Published: 17th January 2007
Comments (10) Stumble
The Joost is on the loose

Joost is pronounced juice.

The men behind both Skype and Kazzaa, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, are now planning to turn their hands towards creating an online television service that will meet traditional broadcast standards.

Joost, the name for the new program, will allow users to watch a wide variety of television shows for (we believe) free. Unlike Youtube and other online video distribution service, the programs you will be able to watch on here will be made to traditional broadcast standards.

The chief executive, Frederik de Wahl, spoke to the BBC about their plans for the service:

"We are trying to replicate the complete television experience. It's full-screen, broadcast quality, you've got instant channel flipping, and interactivity - a viewer can come to us and get all their TV needs."

Sounds pretty good and is almost certainly what the world needs to properly merge internet and television. Unsurprisingly, the BBC article put a negative spin on the proposals. Asking "what is there to watch?" and answering "nothing that is going to tempt many away from their existing television diet."

What should be noted is that the BBC has plans in the pipeline to fund its own online television distribution service, with plans to roll out the old catalogue of classic BBC shows. As we reported last month they've already set in motion the distribution of shows like Fawlty Towers through Bit Torrent.

The Joost project is certainly an interesting one, and we'll be keeping our eyes peeled for any information on what kind of shows will populate its lineup. The site is currently taking on beta testers, so if you're interested head on over and sign up.

Is Joost the future of television? Let us know your thoughts in the forum.
Quote Leitchy 17th January 2007, 13:32
Signed up to the Beta, not keeping much hope though of getting in fast as I am sure there will be many people wanting a peice of this!
Quote plagio 17th January 2007, 14:01
isn't it what it used to be called venice project ?
Quote Redbeaver 17th January 2007, 14:10
interesting. signed up as well. i dont watch tv that often coz im stuck infront of the computer 24/7, and i cant really afford a good tv tuner. maybe this will change that :)
Quote Leitchy 17th January 2007, 14:16
I wonder what sort of bandwidth it consumes? And hopefully it will be high quality and not restricted at 500kbps for instance. That or they have created a good compression technology!
Quote kickarse 17th January 2007, 16:57
Joost looks like an awesome service from what I've seen. I hope I get an invite.

Here's a GOOD review
http://franticindustries.com/blog/2007/01/16/joost-beta-reviewed-tv-just-got-a-little-smarter/
Quote DXR_13KE 17th January 2007, 19:37
it looks in fact real nice.... hope it works :D..... and i am guessing monjet is some kind of bot...... or spammer....
Quote Denis_iii 17th January 2007, 22:21
this rocks and is the future

no more set top boxes, no more satelites, no more attenna's


Its stepping stone to how it should be, TV Phone and internet all coming threw ur BB and controlled by ur home pc

sorted!!!

now just hopin to get on the beta program
Quote Leitchy 18th January 2007, 10:55
Just a shame the UK Broadband industry is balls withere bloody usage limits.
Quote DeX 18th January 2007, 11:19
The quality doesn't look that great. I thought the idea was that this gave you on demand TV. If you can't watch the shows you want when you want then I don't see the advantage that this has over regular TV.
Quote IccleD 18th January 2007, 11:22
I see Copyright Problems & LawSuits
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