Online TV Gets a Jolt from Joost

As if there aren't already enough ways to watch TV, the serial entrepreneurs behind Kazaa and Skype have announced Joost, which proves that there is no shortage of incomprehensible yet catchy five-letter names.

The brainchild of Kazaa and Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, Joost promises "infinite choice, and TV that is truly interactive. TV anywhere, anytime..." What this means in practice is broadcast-quality, full-screen, interactive TV that's accessible over broadband that you use like your regular TV, complete with multiple channels you can flip through (though there's no word on whether you'll be able to use a remote that can be lost somewhere under the couch).

Broadband penetration has reached critical mass and is still increasing, and even inexpensive new computers can at least handle full-screen standard-definition video, so it seems to me that Joost's appearance isn't exactly revolutionary, and more a matter of good timing. The free-viewing-paid-by-advertising model isn't that new either, though I wonder if they're going to go the US route (shows interrupted by ad breaks) or the UK route (uninterrupted shows with ads at the beginning and end).

I am intrigued by the idea that the Joost software will have plug-ins. If Joost is reasonably open, there's no telling what sort of fiendish add-on functionality people will come up with.

The real question is where the content is going to come from. I've long felt that the supposedly global entertainment industries are past due eliminating the practice of staggered worldwide releases, especially in the age of the Internet. (Okay, so partly I'm just ticked that half of the American services I want -- like, say, the Battlestar Galactica webisodes -- have generally been unavailable here in Canada. But still.) However, the fact is that few mainstream releases are going to go out on Joost simply because of agreements based on geography.

Is that altogether bad? I don't think so. My hope is that producers who find it increasingly difficult to get their work on TV or in cinemas latch onto Joost and carve out their own area to play in. If it's compelling enough, there will hopefully be enough people watching so that when that first breakout hit comes along, we'll really get that revolution Joost's founders are talking about.