Some technology boffins predict that the way we watch television will change irrevocably. Technology has already turned huge international industries upside down. When the peer-to-peer file sharing service Kazaa appeared, it sent music companies into a panic. Kazaa was followed by the internet phone service Skype, which quickly attracted millions of users and was sold to eBay for £1,3-billion. And by the time the Venice Project — recently renamed Joost — appears, its executives expect to have dozens of content owners on board.
Joost is the latest big idea from Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, the founders of Kazaa and Skype. Just as Skype shook up the telecom industry, slashing the price for international calls by routing them over the internet, they are convinced that Joost will do the same for television.
Fredrik de Wahl, Joost’s chief executive, describes the service as “the best of the internet” combined with “the best of television”. Once downloaded to your computer, Joost looks very much like a digital TV service, with a “near-DVD quality” full-screen picture and a familiar-looking electronic programme guide. But bring up the stylish overlaid menus and the internet style features become apparent. You can navigate channels in the same way as you might toggle between internet bookmarks.
Joost allows you to skip through programmes in the same way as you would using Windows Media Player, and move around the schedule at will. It lets you construct your own channels; if you are interested in motoring, it will pull together all the available car content and “schedule” it into a bespoke channel for you. You can chat to other users watching the same channel, have a news ticker running along the bottom of the screen, or access online content provided by the broadcaster.
The goal, says De Wahl, is to tap into the communal aspects of watching television as well as the personalisation offered by the internet, and marry the power of channels to showcase content with the on-demand convenience of downloads.
Joost uses peer-to-peer technology, allowing it to simultaneously distribute video to millions of people cost-effectively. Until now, the more people who have watched an online broadcast, the more it has cost the company hosting that content. By applying the same principle as Kazaa, but “splitting” the signal so that it cannot be pirated, Joost brings down costs dramatically.
The key for Joost to deliver on the promise of convergence, lingering since the turn of the century, lies in persuading the big content owners to come on board. De Wahl believes it will be easier than some are predicting, with broadcasters and movie studios keen to work with as many secure partners as possible. “It’s complementary,” he says, “you don’t just sell Prada shoes in Prada stores, you sell Prada shoes in many different outlets.”
Things have moved on since the panic created by Kazaa, demonised for allowing millions of users to swap copyrighted tracks for nothing. “We respect the content owners’ rights and needs on this platform,” says De Wahl. “We will not do anything to endanger copyright issues, we will not do self-uploading until the copyright issues are resolved.”
Joost will launch into a crowded market, rubbing up against video services from aggregators such as Google and Apple, and IPTV services from broadcasters such as the BBC and BSkyB and telecom giants such as BT and Orange. But De Wahl is convinced that Joost will become the means by which millions around the world consume video as broadband internet and TV converge. “I haven’t seen anyone who has fundamentally redesigned what they do, and integrated the content-owner needs or the advertiser needs or the viewer’s needs into one platform.” — Â