Joost Gets A Jolt From Warner Bros. As Hollywood Focuses On PC Screen BY BRIAN DEAGON
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 5/7/2007
Online video sensation Joost added two more partners to a growing stable of media companies willing to have their content stream over the Web onto viewers' computer screens.
Joost announced Monday that Time Warner's (TWX) Warner Bros. Television Group will offer a smattering of vintage TV shows. Separately, the video Web site Heavy.com said it will showcase original programming on Joost's service.
The deals come less than a week after Joost announced its commercial launch. Though still open only to invited users, the service has secured 32 advertising partners that include blue chip brands such as Coca-Cola, (KO) Intel, (INTC) Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Nike. (NKE)
Joost boasts 150 separate Web TV channels that offer everything from vintage episodes of "Lassie" to National Geographic specials and fare from Comedy Central.
Joost was founded by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis; the two also created Internet phone service Skype, which eBay (EBAY) acquired for $2.6 billion in 2005.
Though it's one of dozens of Web sites that stream TV shows, Joost has received a bevy of media attention lately due to some major deals. Fans praise its video quality and easy-to-use controls.
In May, Joost announced content deals with Turner Broadcasting, Sony's (SNE) movie and TV unit, Time Warner-owned Sports Illustrated magazine and the National Hockey League. CBS came aboard in April, following Viacom (VIAB) in February.
"Joost is trying to position itself as a true TV service over the Internet," said Len Feldman, an analyst at Multimedia Research Group. "They are trying to be a content aggregator that acts almost like a cable company, with an enormous store of content that you can watch on demand whenever you want."
It's not clear whether Joost and companies like it will pose a threat to cable companies, analysts say. The producers of popular TV shows themselves are not sure where things are headed. They want to avoid making the same mistakes the music industry made by trying futilely to prevent music-file swapping.
"The media entertainment companies are eagerly rushing into unknown territory," said James McQuivey, a media analyst at Forrester Research. "They're saying that if people want to watch their shows over the Internet, then they want to be the ones that get the ad revenue for this."
Joost will share advertising revenue with content providers but has not disclosed any details. And the networks are providing Joost with content even though some of the same shows can be viewed on their own streaming TV Web sites. For example, CBS will offer Joost viewers episodes of "Jericho" even though that show can also be viewed on the CBS site Innertube.
Yvette Alberdingk Thijm, Joost's executive vice president for content strategy and acquisition, says CBS wants to distribute its content as widely as possible.
"In conversations we've had with CBS, they want their audiences to have a good experience," she said. "People don't want to jump from Web site to Web site. They want to find it in one place. "
Streaming video has been on the scene for years, but now it's coming on like a fright train, analysts say. Just as music was copied and swapped illegally from user to user on file-sharing networks ??? which the industry says costs billions in lost sales annually ??? the same is now happening with TV .
Dozens of Web sites make available for viewing all manner of TV shows, often without copyright permission. Many of the sites profit from their own on-site ads.
David Graves, chief executive of PermissionTV, another online video service, says the TV networks see syndication as a good strategy.
"Effectively they've said, 'Our content is up for sale,' " Graves said. "And rather than making it available only on their company-owned Web sites, they've agreed to sell the programming to other sites as long as they think it's a good business."
For now, TV executives are treading carefully. Much of what's on Joost "is second- or third-rate content," Feldman said. That could change if the business model works.
This week will bring you a host of over 40 new channels in the US including Adult Swim, five new channels from National Geographic, new channels like Spike TV from Viacom, great comedy from Heavy, and classic series from Hasbro such as The Transformers[/b]. And that's just the beginning.
Comments
[email]mjlimb@gmail.com[/email]
should be within a day or so.
[email]timchen1@gmail.com[/email]
Keep trying to sign urself up!
https://joost.com/presents/gigaom-newteevee/
Link I read today on joost.
http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=17&artnum=1&issue=20070507
Joost Gets A Jolt From Warner Bros. As Hollywood Focuses On PC Screen
BY BRIAN DEAGON
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 5/7/2007
Online video sensation Joost added two more partners to a growing stable of media companies willing to have their content stream over the Web onto viewers' computer screens.
Joost announced Monday that Time Warner's (TWX) Warner Bros. Television Group will offer a smattering of vintage TV shows. Separately, the video Web site Heavy.com said it will showcase original programming on Joost's service.
The deals come less than a week after Joost announced its commercial launch. Though still open only to invited users, the service has secured 32 advertising partners that include blue chip brands such as Coca-Cola, (KO) Intel, (INTC) Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Nike. (NKE)
Joost boasts 150 separate Web TV channels that offer everything from vintage episodes of "Lassie" to National Geographic specials and fare from Comedy Central.
Joost was founded by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis; the two also created Internet phone service Skype, which eBay (EBAY) acquired for $2.6 billion in 2005.
Though it's one of dozens of Web sites that stream TV shows, Joost has received a bevy of media attention lately due to some major deals. Fans praise its video quality and easy-to-use controls.
In May, Joost announced content deals with Turner Broadcasting, Sony's (SNE) movie and TV unit, Time Warner-owned Sports Illustrated magazine and the National Hockey League. CBS came aboard in April, following Viacom (VIAB) in February.
"Joost is trying to position itself as a true TV service over the Internet," said Len Feldman, an analyst at Multimedia Research Group. "They are trying to be a content aggregator that acts almost like a cable company, with an enormous store of content that you can watch on demand whenever you want."
It's not clear whether Joost and companies like it will pose a threat to cable companies, analysts say. The producers of popular TV shows themselves are not sure where things are headed. They want to avoid making the same mistakes the music industry made by trying futilely to prevent music-file swapping.
"The media entertainment companies are eagerly rushing into unknown territory," said James McQuivey, a media analyst at Forrester Research. "They're saying that if people want to watch their shows over the Internet, then they want to be the ones that get the ad revenue for this."
Joost will share advertising revenue with content providers but has not disclosed any details. And the networks are providing Joost with content even though some of the same shows can be viewed on their own streaming TV Web sites. For example, CBS will offer Joost viewers episodes of "Jericho" even though that show can also be viewed on the CBS site Innertube.
Yvette Alberdingk Thijm, Joost's executive vice president for content strategy and acquisition, says CBS wants to distribute its content as widely as possible.
"In conversations we've had with CBS, they want their audiences to have a good experience," she said. "People don't want to jump from Web site to Web site. They want to find it in one place. "
Streaming video has been on the scene for years, but now it's coming on like a fright train, analysts say. Just as music was copied and swapped illegally from user to user on file-sharing networks ??? which the industry says costs billions in lost sales annually ??? the same is now happening with TV .
Dozens of Web sites make available for viewing all manner of TV shows, often without copyright permission. Many of the sites profit from their own on-site ads.
David Graves, chief executive of PermissionTV, another online video service, says the TV networks see syndication as a good strategy.
"Effectively they've said, 'Our content is up for sale,' " Graves said. "And rather than making it available only on their company-owned Web sites, they've agreed to sell the programming to other sites as long as they think it's a good business."
For now, TV executives are treading carefully. Much of what's on Joost "is second- or third-rate content," Feldman said. That could change if the business model works.
"We'll see a lot of experimentation," he said.
- spidey
This week will bring you a host of over 40 new channels in the US
including Adult Swim, five new channels from National Geographic,
new channels like Spike TV from Viacom, great comedy from
Heavy, and classic series from Hasbro such as The Transformers[/b].
And that's just the beginning.
- spidey
Brazillian Music Channel KILLING IT!!
- spidey