Feb 01

Viacom Turns on YouTube, now Greets Joost with Open Arms

Posted in: Today's Chili, videos, Web Sites, YouTube

This article was written on February 20, 2007 by CyberNet.

JoostWhen Viacom pulled out the carpet underneath YouTube, I’m sure YouTube wasn’t expecting it was because there was someone else coming into the picture. Viacom left, and headed on over to Joost which is just getting their start. On the Joost site, they say that they’re a new way of watching TV on the Internet with channels, programs, and adverts.

So now just a couple of weeks after Viacom ordered the 100,000 videos be removed from YouTube, Viacom has made a new deal that involves the licensing of hundreds of hours of programming from networks like MTV, Comedy Central, Spike, and even movies from Paramount.

What makes Joost more appealing for Viacom is that users aren’t able to upload content themselves.  That may not be very appealing for some users who’d like the option for uploading their content, but what is appealing is that Joost will be running full episodes, and to boot? High-quality resolution, which is something you wouldn’t find from YouTube.

No financial deals about the agreement have been disclosed yet, however, typically Viacom has gotten two-thirds of ad revenue for their compensation.

Joost has a sign-up if you want to get in on the beta testing. They say that they’re getting thousands of applications a day, so it may take time for them to get to you. Sign-up is here, and just requires basic info.

A couple of interesting facts: Joost was started by Niklas Zennstrm and Janus Friis. Recognize those names? They were the two founders of file-sharing service Kazaa, and Skype. They swept up $2.69 billion when Skype was acquired by eBay, so clearly they’re not running into problems financing the Joost deal.

Source: Reuters [via Gizmodo]

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