"The founders of the Skype internet telephony service are launching what they describe as the world's first broadcast quality internet TV service. Following speculation about a service dubbed The Venice Project, the online television software is now being unveiled under the name Joost. It is designed to enable broadcasters to get their programmes in front of a global internet audience. It will allow viewers to access all kinds of television over the internet.

Joost is backed by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, who founded Skype, while Frederik de Wahl previously ran a business whose peer-to-peer software was used in Skype. He says a version of that software is key to the appeal of Joost, with new peer-to-peer technology, backed up by the firm's own servers, making it possible to stream video on demand. But rival services are already casting doubt on the claim that Joost represents a new frontier for internet television."