The Joost opportunity…

by Kipp

Who are Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, well most of you probably have no clue, but you have most likely used software they helped create. Zennstrom and Friis helped change the world of peer-to-peer downloads with Kazaa and then they changed the way that we talked to each other with Skype. So what are they doing now? Well they are out to change the why that we watch TV and video. Their newest venture called Joost is described as follows on the site’s FAQ:

“Joost™ is a new way of watching TV on the internet, which uses new and established technologies to provide the best of both the Internet and TV worlds. We’re in the process of making it as TV-like as we can, with programmes, channels and adverts. You can also see some things that we think will enhance the TV experience: searching for programmes and channels, for example, as well as social features like chat.”

So what does this mean to the average TV viewer, not much…yet. I believe that Joost more than Google, YouTube, or any other online information source has they opportunity to change the rules surrounding, the video content we are able to watch and how we are able to watch it. How?

Well think about it this way, the network and cable TV programing we all whach is controled by the FCC. If the content does not meet FCC guidlelines then the network can lose its rights to broadcast and make any money from advertising revenue. Video distributed via the Internet is not monitored by the FCC, meaning that subsaquantly its content can not be monitored under lose same guidelines.

Joost has the oportunity to change the way broadcast media is regulate and distributed which is critical to the advancement of new media technologies and distribution.

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