Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, the Swedish pair who created the online VoIP service Skype, have created a new free global broadband TV network. Originally called The Venice Project, the service will launch under the name Joost later this year.
With Joost, Zennstrom and Friis claim to have created an online TV delivery platform that will be safe from piracy. Joost has already lined up Warner Music, American Idol producers Endemol TV, September Films, and the Indy Racing League as content providers. Advertisers on board include T-Mobile unit, Wrigley, and Maybelline Cosmetics.
"People are looking for increased choice and flexibility in their TV experience, while the entertainment industry needs to retain control over their content," Joost chief executive Frederick de Wahl said in a statement. "We have married that consumer desire with the industry's interests."
Joost was financed in part by Zennstrom and Friis' sale of Skype to online auction giant eBay in 2005 for $2.7 billion. Skype lets Web users make phone and video calls over the Internet.
Before Skype, Zennstrom and Friis created and sold the file-swapping program Kazaa. Tech analysts say Joost has a good chance of success due to the involvement of the two.
The service is currently in beta testing at Joost.com.
Comments (5)
Cool, though Janus Friis arent a swede, but a Dane, or then it is the other way around. Dosent matter, it is just that it is not two swedes, but 1 Swede and 1 Dane.
Skype is cool
interesting
Just a tiny other mistake in this article. Niklas Zennström is Swedish but Janus Friis is Danish. But anyway... this sounds great. Then you can watch tv from other countries.. cool!
There is no such thing as a "delivery platform that will be safe from piracy". They might make it a little more protected but not safe. But what does it matter anyway? Since its free and online, everyone can have access to it, there would be no need to pirate it.