Joost, the much-hyped broadcast-quality global Internet television service, has announced that it is officially open for business. And from what I’ve seen so far, it’s been worth the wait.

It appears that the zillionaires behind Joost, Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, have managed to attract both the quality content, and the advertising support, that Joost needs to be a viable television service.

Like regular free-to-air television, Joost relies on advertising for its revenue, so it’s free to the viewer. Joost features more than 150 channels, including: cartoons and animation; entertainment and film; sports; comedy; lifestyle and documentaries; and sci-fi.

Unfortunately, not all the content is available to everyone.

Channels and programs available on Joost vary by geographic region, based on copyright ownership. While most programming currently is available to viewers in the United States, Joost has promised to enhance its worldwide offering with the addition of international, regional and local partners on a continuing basis

“Today marks the beginning of an exciting phase for Joost – we are officially open for business,” said David Clark, executive vice president of global advertising for Joost.

“We’re enabling our viewers to share Joost with their friends and family, and we’re working collaboratively with the world’s leading advertisers and agencies to design a new ad model for the next generation of television.”

Current beta testers can now invite an unlimited number of friends, family and colleagues to join Joost.

Last week, Joost announced that it had signed more than 30 blue-chip brands, including The Coca-Cola Company, HP, Intel and Nike, as advertising launch partners. Advertisements from some of the ad launch partners has already started to appear on Joost. Advertisements from all ad launch partners will be on Joost later this month.

In early April Joost announced a content deal with the US CBS television network, so that CBS content, such as CSI, NCIS and NUMB3RS, will be available to Joost viewers in the US. Global entertainment company Viacom agreed to provide programming from MTV Networks, BET Networks and Paramount Pictures for Joost in February.

I’ve been a beta tester since early March, and I’ve been really impressed with Joost. While I don’t get the all the channels here in Australia, there’s usually something interesting to watch. The picture quality is generally good, and the user interface is really slick.

It’s been one of the few things in recent times where I can say, “that’s cool!”.

If you want to try to Joost, you’ll need to a get an invitation from a beta tester. Don’t know any beta testers? No problem. I’m inviting 20 TECH.BLORGE.com readers to join Joost. All you need to get your invitation is to send an email to me at john@blorge.com stating why you would like an invitation. The best 20 answers (whether funny or serious) will receive invitations.

Competition rules. 1. Entry is open to all readers of TECH.BLORGE.com, except employees land their immediate families of the promoter and other agencies associated with the promotion. 2. The prize is as described as above. The prize is not transferable or exchangeable, and cannot betaken as cash. 3. This competition closes on 7 May 2007. This is a game of skill, and chance plays no part in determining the winner. Each entry will be judged on creative merit. The judge’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. 5. The Promoter is Cogent Insights Pty Ltd.

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Related:

Joost to turn browser-based

Skype founders unveil Joost Internet TV service

Joost gets a boost from CBS

Joost Internet TV service is now open to everyone

ICANN opens the floodgates of no limit TLD registrations

Stumble It!

Entry was posted on Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007 at 7:47 am under Internet.  Print This Post

Read more entries by John Pospisil.