Update: Viacom, Joost enter Internet TV deal

Joost, the online TV service developed by the founders of Internet telephone company Skype, has struck a licensing deal with Viacom International Inc.

Programs from Viacom divisions including MTV Networks, BET Networks, and Paramount Pictures will be available for free to Joost users. The content includes television programs as well as full-length classic and recent release feature films from Paramount.

The companies did not disclose the arrangement’s financial terms.

In addition to straightforward content viewing, Joost customers will be able to use other features such as following links to Web sites that contain more information about the Viacom content they’re viewing. Other applications such as instant messaging, message boards and news tickers are also built into the platform.

The deal should help Joost coexist peacefully with content producers rather than operating at odds with them.

YouTube, the popular online video sharing site that Google bought last year, continues to run afoul of content owners that are unhappy to see their copyright content displayed on YouTube without proper licensing.

In early February, Viacom asked YouTube to remove over 100,000 clips from the site. In a statement, the media giant said that it had become clear that YouTube was unwilling to come to a fair agreement to make Viacom content available on YouTube. Viacom also blamed YouTube’s inability to deliver filtering tools that would prevent unauthorized content from appearing on the site.

In addition, Viacom complained at the time that Google and YouTube were retaining all the revenue generated from presenting content without sharing it with the people who created it.

Viacom is looking for partners like Joost with platforms that support a sustainable business model that respects content creators and consumers, it said in a statement announcing the Joost agreement.

Joost, formerly known as The Venice Project, continues to accept beta users. The service allows customers to watch television programs on their computers. Rather than streaming the content from a central server farm, Joost works in a peer-to-peer fashion, with users serving as a network that shares content among users.