Joost, a company attempting to broadcast television via the Internet, said it had signed several new content distribution agreements, including one with Turner Broadcasting System to show CNN news and interview programs, an Associated Press report said.
The Associated Press report said the company also announced its 'commercial availability,' which means it will allow beta testers to invite anyone to use the system.
'Later this month we will be completely open' and allow anyone to download the Joost software from the company's Web site, Yvette Alberdingk Thijm, the company's top executive for content acquisition, was quoted by the report as saying..
'This is the way you normally ramp up peer-to-peer software "&brkbar; and it's a way to give our (beta tester) friends a little bit of a scoop.'
Joost, pronounced 'juiced,' was co-founded by Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, the entrepreneurs who upset the music industry with the Kazaa file-sharing service and then developed Skype, the Internet telephone system that was bought by eBay for at least $2.6 billion in 2005, the report said.
Joost operates by distributing streaming video of shows from 'peer-to-peer,' or user-to-user, over the Internet. Consumers choose a channel via a software interface on their desktop that resembles a remote control. Like regular TV, it is free for viewers, and aims to be ad-supported, the report further said.