Jalipo, a new online video distribution service, launched in beta form today, aiming to offer online users high-quality video and television programming on a pay-as-you-go basis. Rather than trying to be a hub for user-generated video—a la YouTube—the London-based Jalipo instead offers a way for video distributors and copyright holders to offer their content for sale online in a secure, high-quality rights-protected fashion. And Jalipo already has some high-profile partners on board, in the form of the BBC and the English edition of Al Jazeera.
Content on Jalipo will be available to users on a pay-as-you-go basis: users pay for content on a per-minute basis, adding more money to their accounts when their “J:Credits” run out. The idea is that under a pay-per-minute model, users pay only for content they actually watch, instead of paying a flat fee for content which may leave them nonplussed. With Jalipo, if you don’t like a program or video selection, users can simply stop watching and then never have to pay for the unwatched content. Content owners can determine the pricing of their selections—rather than being tied to flat-fee pricing a la Apple’s iTunes store—and control what regions of the world the content is available via Jalipo, thereby preventing availability via Jalipo from interfering with any existing distribution deals.
Jalipo is positioning itself at the opposite end of the online video spectrum from YouTube. Where YouTube offers user-submitted video and clips, Jalipo will offer high-quality, professionally produced content, and aims to offer on-demand programming in the area of sports, concerts, independent films, news, and other arenas. “We’re hoping to create a much more user friendly way to buy video content that means you can now monetize your content online while still maintaining your rights,” Jalipo Chief Executive Alex Taylor said to Reuters. “This is absolutely not for user-generated content. […] This is rights protected, territory restricted and monetized every minute.”
Jalipo may not be looking to compete with YouTube, but it certainly has to be keeping its eye on Joost, the forthcoming Internet television service from the founders of Skype, which has recently been inking high-profile content deals with the likes of Viacom and CBS.
