Skype founders christen web TV venture

Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström, the duo that brought the world Kazaa and Skype, have chosen a name for their new online-video start-up: Joost.

Company executives had referred to the new company for months by the code-name 'The Venice Project'. They chose Joost, which doesn't have any meaning in Danish or Swedish - Friis' and Zennström's respective native tongues, because they like the ring of it, according to a spokeswoman.

The plan, according to Joost CEO Fredrik de Wahl, is to offer studios, cable stations and anyone else who wants to distribute high-quality video over the internet, a fast, efficient and cheap distribution method. To do this, the company will rely on the peer-to-peer technology that helped Friis and Zennström build Kazaa and Skype.

Their sparkling track record of creating hit companies aside, Friis and Zennström face a crowded field of competitors, such as Apple and YouTube, which are already well on their way to establishing themselves as video-distribution platforms.

Most importantly, Joost has yet to strike any marquee partnerships with top film or TV producers. Without them, their challenge is a tough one: convincing studio executives and the like to turn over their content to Joost when the company has yet to attract a big audience.

BitTorrent, the US-based distributor of a competing peer-to-peer company is also vying to license technology to internet video companies. Another threat could come from the growing number of sites that offer top cable and movie channels without permission. One such company, TVU Networks, made a splash last summer by offering soccer fans the ability to watch World Cup matches on their PC. For a while, TVU Networks was offering CNN, the Disney Channel, HBO and NBAtv before many of the companies forced it to pull their shows down.

What Joost has going for it is that the software replicates the TV-viewing experience better than many of the other companies trying to wed TV to the PC. And this is a time when Hollywood is experimenting with the internet.

Joost's nifty technology may be enough to sway the entertainment industry to place a bet on proven winners Friis and Zennström.

A menu allows users to switch channels with a click of a link. Users will also have TiVo-like control of the content and access to any show offered regardless of time of day. They can also move forwards or backwards within a show.

The Luxembourg-based company will support itself with advertising, specifically internet ads that behave just like TV commercials.

De Wahl said: "These are the kind of ads that the TV industry and viewers understand."

Greg Sandoval writes for CNET News.com