Joost Beta Opens to Public

Internet television service Joost has shed its invitation-only status, throwing open its 1.0 beta version to general public.

Fledgling Interent television service Joost, which launched a private beta last May, is shedding its invitation-only status to go fully public with its new 1.0 beta release. Although users are warned the Joost software is still a beta and (therefore) subject to possible problems, bugs, and reliability issues, anyone interested in tapping into Joost’s online video content can now do so.

The brainchild of Skype and Kazaa founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, Joost aims to bring ad-supported television and video content to computer users around the world. Although content offers are still limited, Joost as already signed major content distribution pacts—including deals with CBS, Viacom, and Warner Brothers, and CNN—and offers a range of international programming. For now, Joost is computer-only: it doesn’t explicitly support existing solutions to transfer or stream video to televisions or living room entertainment centers, although ambitious users will no doubt come up with homegrown solutions and, should Joost take off, undoubtedly device manufacturers and software developers will line up to support Joost in much the same way they seemingly can’t add YouTube support quickly enough. Joost is working to expand its content offerings: the service claims to offer more than 15,000 shows at the moment, with more added daily.

Joost also incorporates Web 2.0 and social networking concepts, enabling users to comment on programming, share content, and create their own channels.

The beta 1.0 Joost application is available for Windows XP/Vista and Mac OS X 10.4.