The founders of internet telephony firm Skype have unveiled a peer-to-peer television service that will be free to users.
Niklas Zennstroem and Janus Friis say they 鈥渃ombined the best of TV and the best of the internet鈥� in a venture called Joost, which enables people to watch television online with 鈥渃hoice, control and flexibility.鈥�
The pair are the entrepreneurs behind peer-to-peer companies Kazaa and Skype, which was bought by US-based eBay for $2.6 billion in 2005.
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Joost is also 鈥減iracy-proof鈥�, its founders claim, having been crafted to prevent content being copied, thus guaranteeing copyright protection for creators and owners of content. Content will be seeded from one of Joost鈥檚 computer servers and is then shared between users in a peer-to-peer format; users receiving data from one another鈥檚 computers.
Server stations
鈥淲e store the original content on a handful of little server stations around the world and send the data out the first time,鈥� says Joost鈥檚 chief technology officer Dirk-Willem van Gulik. 鈥淎fter that, it sits in the peer-to-peer network.鈥�
Joost based the platform in open-source computer code to make it easy for programmers to create 鈥減lug-ins鈥� 鈥� small applications that will interact with the service. 鈥淲e are not only giving the world a TV, we are giving them a TV they can play around with,鈥� van Gulik adds. 鈥淵ou can add things to it, you can modify it.鈥�
鈥淭he problem with TV is there is too much advertising, there is always clutter, no sense of community and you can鈥檛 get the shows you want when you want,鈥� Werdelin adds. 鈥淲e want to get rid of those problems by using all the cool features the internet has.鈥�
Track record
Joost has a team of workers converting television programs to digital format and adding relevant information about actors, directors and content. Prospective testers can sign up to volunteer at the website . The software should be rolled out to the public by mid-2007.
The site will be competing against online video-sharing websites such as YouTube and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) services.
But analyst James Enck of Daiwa Securities in the US, says the Zennstroem and Friis have an impressive track record. 鈥淭hey introduced two of the most revolutionary, disruptive, products in the history of the internet, and the most viral,鈥� Enck told the Washington Post 鈥淧ossibly this is a hat trick.鈥�
