The deal is limited, at least at first: many of Viacom's most popular programs, such as Comedy Central's The Colbert Report and South Park, will not be available initially, notes CNET. Some of the featured offerings, however, will be MTV's My Super Sweet 16, Comedy Central's Freak Show, BET's American Gangster, as well as feature films from Paramount and its related brands. No financial terms of the agreement were provided.

A Mac compatible beta version of [url=http://www.joost.com]Joost[/url], a global TV distribution platform, was recently released. Created by the folks who came up with Skype, the peer-to-peer streaming technology is designed to provide a new way of watching TV on the Internet, which uses new and established technologies.

Co-founded by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, Joost fills a critical gap in the online video entertainment arena, according to spokesperson Alice Regester. It's powered by a "secure, efficient, piracy-proof Internet platform that enables premium interactive video experiences while guaranteeing copyright protection for content owners and creators," she adds. Joost can be accessed with a broadband Internet connection and offers content to viewers for free.

Currently, Joost channels are like playlists of videos. You can flip between channels, or use the program guide to choose a channel or a video to watch. The channels start when you play them and not at any particular day or time. If you let them continue they will loop round to the beginning again. If you change channel and then switch back again, you'll start at the beginning of the program again. In later versions the Joosters will have different kinds of channels, including ones that behave more like ordinary TV channels (including the occasional ad).

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