Off The Leash

In other words, just like network television circa 1964. That's a revolution? A potentially huge one. For years, Microsoft and others have tried, and failed, to bring the Net to TV screens with duds like WebTV. But the Venice Project, renamed Joost (as in juiced), is doing the opposite: moving TV to the Internet. And unlike Apple TV, Slingbox and other hardware offerings, Joost requires nothing more than software. For now, it's by invitation only, but by this summer it will be open to the public. You'll download the free Joost software, then use it to watch channels ranging from Lime, a lifestyle station, to National Geographic. And potentially thousands more, from anywhere, in real time — and without the stuttervision that dogs streaming video today.

It's the creation of a team of 60 top engineers — veterans of Apple, Flickr and Firefox — and has already wowed bloggers who have had an early look. "Joost could make YouTube, Google Video and Apple TV look like 1988," gushes tech-blog UtahSaint.

Viacom, which recently yanked its programs from YouTube, has signed a deal to supply Joost with movies from Paramount and programming from mtv, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and other stations. Time has learned that Joost will soon announce another big deal — with JumpTV, the world's largest distributor of international TV stations, to begin distributing programming from some of the 270 stations in 70 countries that JumpTV owns rights to. The deal will launch with prerecorded Spanish and Arabic programming from stations in Latin America and the Middle East. Eventually JumpTV plans to provide Joost with live streams from TV stations around the world. That will move Joost further from video on demand and closer to live TV.

While sites like Myspace and eBay emphasize a dizzying array of features and options, Joost opts for minimalism. Unlike YouTube, Joost has no user-generated content. Instead of video clips of rapping grandmas, crashing skateboarders and blathering strangers, Joost focuses on network-quality programs. And unlike Apple's iTunes, which sells TV shows and movies, Joost is free, though its content is peppered with one to three minutes of ads an hour. It's a 50-year-old broadcast model updated.

The controls are vintage I Love Lucy too. The basic interface has simple up-down menus so it can eventually be translated to cell phones and devices like Apple's iPod. No need for a 37-button remote. "People are tired of being locked into the way TV is set up," says Friis.

Simplicity is the magic of the service, something that YouTube, with its millions of videos in thousands of categories, lacks. And it's in high demand. Steve Johnson, ceo of Choicestream, which helps video sites customize their offerings, says viewers prefer receiving personalized recommendations to wading through reams of search results.

But it all comes down to what you can watch. Content is still king. While Joost now offers fewer than 50 channels, it will soon have hundreds, and eventually thousands. To keep things simple, you can stick to a few channels. Or you can open the floodgates. "Today TV is 500 channels but we're not far — maybe three years — from a 5,000-channel world," says Hilmi Ozguc, ceo of Maven, which powers Internet TV for media companies like CBS and Univision. "And in 10 years, we could easily be at 50,000 channels from all over the world. You'll have a fly-fishing channel and a channel just for Lost." Warner Music exec Alex Zubillaga says he can envision a Paris Hilton channel and one each for the Grateful Dead, Diddy and Madonna.