Joost a Step Closer to Perfection
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Written By Kate Zimmermann | May 2, 2007 | Share This
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Joost is so close to a commercial launch, we can almost smell its HD goodness - the high quality video player, the full-length TV shows, the movies, the laughter, the drama…the world at the world’s fingertips! Yesterday Joost announced that registered users can now pass out an unlimited number of invitations, and that the software will be publicly available by the end of May. Joost also announced a slew of new content partners, including the NHL, Sports Illustrated, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Turner Broadcasting System (Anderson Cooper, Cartoon Network, CNN News, etc.).
But, said Joost, most of the content initially released will be “classic programming” - aka, stuff that originally aired in the ’70s. Joost will show old Charlies Angles episodes, “classic” NHL replays, and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit show, in addition to existing programs like the Soccer Channel and the World Poker Tour. Are you noticing a trend in their target market? Teenage girls, right? No… mid thirties males? Bingo -the Tech Blog audience. (Hey wait a minute, where’s Star Trek?) Though Joost isn’t aiming for mass-market appeal (yet), tech bloggers are easy targets for early adoption. It certainly doesn’t hurt Joost’s content partners either, whose original episodes of Starsky and Hutch are too old for re-runs and too young for Nick-at-Nite. Joost is turning into the orphanage for abandoned TV programs, where viewers get to watch stuff for free and where content owners reap the benefits from advertising. No wonder the press is so in love!
We’re not all die-hard NHL fans (or people who remember the 70s) though, and the May launch is not likely to stir a huge userbase beyond the early adopter audience. Until better content appears on Joost, it may remain one of those Slashdot terms that singles out those who spend too much time online from those who lead normal lives (it’s okay, I dissed myself there too). In the meantime, the vision of a single platform showing current content from multiple primetime networks is still a long way from reality. TV networks are just starting to dip their toes into the P2P market, and as always, their copyright lawyers need time to adjust.
Topics: Advertising: Online, Search: Video, Social Media, Technology |
I can’t believe I never heard of this. I’m so out of it!! : )
Can you send me an invite so I can download it?
Scott
Transparency is the key operative word here. The ability to seamlessly watch what I want, when I want, in 1080P [and in Ultra HD in 10 yrs] on my living and bedroom screens, and downloadable to those handy PMP hard discs, SIM and flash cards is the mantra. True, very hi-speed downloading into the home will make streaming superfluous in the coming ultra FIOS years, with the exception of timely news & live event programming.
I should know, as I am a late 1940s product of the commercial TV generation. The free 60 year old television & 80 year old radio models, paid for by advertising, are in no need of reinvention or tweaking. Give us 22 minutes of programming and 8 minutes of ads every half hour, and we’ll all watch as we always have. Go ahead, make a $buck. You’re entitled, as long as you inform, entertain, & educate me.
Ah, free enterprise, now free of the FTC, FCC, and Standards & Practices. Gotta love it!