Skype Launches IPTV - Calls it Joost

The much speculated IPTV service by Skype, previously codenamed 'The Venice Project ' is now officially out of the bag, as 'Joost'.

The free service will allow viewers to access all kinds of television from across the world, over the Internet.The ad supported site will try to replicate the complete television experience, in full-screen, broadcast quality, along with channel flipping, and interactivity. The service is still undergoing trials, but thousands of people have been invited to download the software on trial.

Joost aims to offer TV-like experience enhanced with the choice, control and flexibility of Web 2.0, which enables broadcasters to get their program in front of a global Internet audience. Joost CEO Fredrik de Wahl says the team plans to offer studios, cable stations and anyone else who wants to distribute high-quality video over the Internet, a fast, efficient and cheap distribution method. He says the company will use the same peer-to-peer technology used in Skype and Kazaa.

The Joost menu allows users to switch channels with the click of a link, TiVo-like control of the content and access to any show, any time of the day. Users may also move forward or backward within a show and skip commercials. There is a line-up of sports, documentaries and music programming, but the team says this is just trial programming and that when the full launch takes place in the next few months, there will be more impressive content on offer.

Founders, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, Joost say Joost fills a critical gap in the online video entertainment arena because it is powered by a secure, efficient, piracy-proof Internet platform that enables premium interactive video experiences while guaranteeing copyright protection for content owners and creators. The Joost website says, "Joost is a new way to watch TV, free of the schedules and restrictions that come with traditional television."

The site also promises to provide a platform for the 'best television content on the planet' to bring users the shows from TV studios, as well as the specialist programs created by professionals and enthusiasts. The Joost team also reveals that they're working on a native Macintosh Intel version and expect it to be available in the next few months. A Linux version is also in the works.

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