The IPTV service Joost seems to have a lot going for it. First off it has a funky, fresh sounding name pronounced 'juiced' and not like the Dutch name it resembles, despite the fact that the company has its roots in Amsterdam. Second it boasts quite a pedigree- it was founded by Nicklas Zennström and Janus Friis the masterminds behind Kazaa and Skype, two other disruptive and innovative concepts. And just like Skype shook up the international long distance market, Joost wants to reinvent your television watching experience. This is quite a lofty goal and one which at first glance Joost appears to be serious about delivering . It allows you to create your own channels of streaming content catered to your interests and forward others Links to your favorite shows, chat with viewers and so on. Joost has languished in private beta for almost a year allowing only a select few, preferably online influence peddlers like bloggers and assorted technorati to glimpse what lay behind its invite-only velvet rope. If you were unable to finagle an early invite don't fret because it now welcomes online commoners. But now that the bar is open the question you need to ask is, should you taste what Joost is squeezing? Well it comes at a great price-free-so you will not loose anything by checking it out, and the only prerequisite is a fast, reliable internet connection and a fairly recent computer since Joost needs more juice to run than YouTube.
As for disrupting the TV universe in the same way that both Kazaa and Skype did in their respective industries, well the jury is still out on that one. It is too early to make any wild predictions and please do not be swayed by the gushing enthusiasm of its founders. Remember Skype? Well everyone was getting all worked up over Skype and in 2005 in a fit of foolish infatuation eBay purchased it for $2.6 billion. Like a Las Vegas wedding that went sour, the auction giant sobered up and was forced to take a $1.4 billion write down on Skype this year . So the truth is no one can say for sure what the TV landscape will look like years from now and even the best guess is just a guess at best. The veterans of the game, major networks are not only faced with falling ratings and declining viewership but also competition from video sites like YouTube and DailyMotion on two fronts, original user generated videos as well as unlicensed clips of their own material. In this chaotic vortex Joost is positioning itself as the messiah, a happy medium. It even resembles traditional TV because it is full screen and not some tiny player.

Though Joost was quick out of the starting gate and managed to rack up a lot of early buzz and breathless press, it is now dogged by negative reviews over the quality of its video feeds compared to similar content on sites like iTunes or even run of the mill digital video that you can get from your cable provider. Joost is working on improving the quality but the underlying problem they face is that US households just do not have access to the level of broadband that will enable Joost to provide video streams that compare to the quality of satellite or digital cable, forget hi-def video.

With DSL vendors like AT&T making forays into IPTV (their U-Verse launched in 2006 offered 300 channels in 11 cities) and cable internet providers already delivering video, any incentive to increase speeds could be squashed by a sense of corporate self preservation. These cable companies will be reluctant to offer the same blazingly fast broadband like their counterparts in Asia and Europe if it will just make it easier for Joost and Co. to grab more viewers away from them. Even if there is a significant increase in network speeds, internet providers can simply charge Joost and other indie IPTV providers for the rights to stream video that parallels their own digital offerings. And the cost would be borne by the consumer. So unlike in Europe or in Asia, Joost faces an uphill battle to success in the US.

There is also a bigger hurdle to surmount on the way to Joost dominance because Adobe is about to change the rules. Adobe is all set to integrate the H.264 codec into all Flash players with the release of the next installment, Flash Player 9. H.264 is the same codec that Apple uses to compress its iTunes video offerings and promises to double the video quality while utilizing the same bandwidth we currently have available. Every video site worth its Web 2.0 credentials is just itching to get its hands on Flash Player 9. If it becomes the new standard it will allow them to launch their own full-screen Internet TV services with video streams comparable to or better than Joost and make them available on your everyday browser. Simply put all the videos you watch on YouTube, DailyMotion or almost any other online video site that employs a flash player will suddenly look a whole lot clearer and sharper without consuming any more bandwidth than they do already.

So Joost's remaining trump card is not its technology anymore but the sizable lead it has from being an early comer to the IPTV race. When Joost opened to the public this month it boasted 1 million beta users and 15,000 shows, however most of that content is not exclusive because Joost drinks from the same trough as other competing IPTV services. Joost's hardware and Internet requirements could be a barrier as well. Not only does the service need a fairly powerful PC because it is designed to run video full-screen but it also requires a high-speed Internet connection to view them. This is because Joost is cast from the same peer-to-peer mould as Kazaa, the pioneering music downloading service that was drummed out of business by legal action from the recording companies. While a Joost user is watching a streaming TV show with the software, his computer is simultaneously streaming that same show to others. Joost's P2P approach benefits them and not the consumer because it defrays the company's bandwidth costs while passing the buck on to the viewer. But streaming video is getting cheaper and because of the recent boom in web advertising it is also becoming very lucrative. And the video service which can ultimately grab the attention of viewers online will control the purses of advertisers eager to reach that audience. If wants to remain ahead of the pack t he recipe for success will require a careful mix of high quality content, uninterrupted streaming and an intuitive interface. Joost has most of those ingredients already except for the compelling content such as full-length episodes of current prime time television shows.

At MIPCOM-the largest audio visual tradeshow-held in Cannes this year Joost chief executive Mike Volpi claimed that the service was not trying to 'out TV' television but to give viewers content they never had access to before. He argued that that premium branded on-demand content from companies like National Geographic and MTV placed on Joost will be beneficial to the content providers in the end by increasing the time audiences spend accessing TV content and will not eat away at existing viewership. Although Joost has already signed deals with Viacom, CBS and others including a recent deal with Major League Baseball, most are for outdated content, including episodes of TV shows circa 1980. One such partner is channel Chello Zone which signed a content deal with Joost to supply programming to the IPTV platform. Their content ranging from reality to horror will now be available on Joost, including their Psychic Private Eyes and other titles such as Disasters of the Century and Haunted Houses as well as their short films. Most of the premium content online is specifically made just for the medium and not available elsewhere but Volpi encouraged content owners to put their best stuff online as well and for good reason. There is a whole lot of filler on Joost from unrecognizable obscure creators in addition to the few series from MTV, VH1, CBS and Paramount. So Joost is hoping the content owners stick to creating content and preferably leaving it to Joost to handle the distribution. Their gamble is that the internet will emerge as the major vehicle for content consumption in the near future with Joost controlling a big chunk of it.

A point in its favour, one that makes it non-threatening maybe even attractive to content owners is that it is a stream only service. Video on Joost can't be downloaded, saved and shared and producers can also dictate exactly where their content can be viewed based on IP addresses, giving them a lot more control over their material. There are enough advertising slots on Joost to make it a potential revenue generating service and as every start-up knows monetization puts you right on the road to acquisition. But will all these restraints sit well with users who have been brought up on the Wild West no-rules nature of the net, where copyright law is flouted freely? Will these users want to put up with those kinds of restrictions? If the content is good enough, they just might.

Now I have been throwing this acronym around freely but what exactly is IPTV? Internet Protocol Television or IPTV has several definitions, a generally accepted one being that it is a system where digital television is delivered using Internet Protocol over a network. Basically it's TV sent not via the usual broadcast or cable avenues, but through an infrastructure meant for computer networks. The commercial bundling of IPTV, Voice over IP and Internet access is referred to as 'Triple Play' and is offered by many major telecommunications companies who are exploring IPTV as a new revenue source. As of last year there were over 1300 free IPTV channels available. To watch them requires only an Internet connection and a computer or HDTV connected to a computer or even a 3G phone. There are several advantages to IPTV such as the integration and convergence of services e.g. receiving caller ID on your TV and sending the messages to voicemail with your remote. Because IPTV relies on real-time data transmission and uses the Internet Protocol, it is subject to data loss or delays if the connection is not up to speed or loss of image if the stream is interrupted making wireless networks unreliable but to paraphrase Bob Dylan 'the times they are a-changing' and who knows what advancements will be made next year. There is however one way to gain insight into this fast developing technology. The 2007 IPTV World Forum was held in London recently and featured over 20 international telecommunication companies and internet service providers. Heavy hitters such as Telefonica, BT, Telecom Italia and Bharti Televentures wooed major content providers like ITV, Walt Disney, Sony Pictures, MTV and 20 th Century Fox. In case you were not in London like I was or you missed the Eastern European forum held in Budapest or the Asian leg in Shanghai, there is always next year.