Written by Jackson West
Posted Thursday, April 19, 2007 at 4:47 PM PT

 

Ten Joost Channels Worth Watching

The knock I keep hearing on Joost is that the content is, ahem, “lacking” (to employ a euphemism). None of my friends have been clamoring for the Europop stylings of “MTV Benelux,” reruns of ESPN2 steroid-enhanced staple “Worlds Strongest Man,” or probably the most egregious crime against humanity a video network could ever perpetrate — helping to distribute, in any way shape or form, “The Diddy Channel.” (At least in that last regard YouTube is just as guilty.)

But there’s definitely some stuff that will be worth watching, especially now that Viacom’s beef with YouTube means that they’re throwing their lot in with Joost, CBS included Joost as part of their new non-exclusive distribution strategy, and Joost continues to pick up smaller scale indie content providers.

Here’s my top ten of what I’m looking forward to tuning in for:

10. BET: If only to down-rank Diddy videos. Viacom property VH1 will (eventually be) available, along with videos from major labels like Warner Music.

9. Logo: Assuming it will include popular classics like Queer as Folk and The Complete Tales of the City, not to mention groundbreaking miniseries Angels in America, this could actually be one of the best options available.

8. Showtime Boxing and The Fight Network: HBO always gets the premier cards, but for true fight fans, Showtime’s undercards and The Fight Network’s UFC coverage should be a hit.

7. National Geographic: Television wouldn’t be television if you couldn’t space out on the couch Saturday afternoons while watching virile predators stalk their prey.

6. CSI: They solve crimes, with science! The early seasons of the original series are still the best, but all three flavors will be available 24-7.

5. Nickelodeon: Joost — it’s cheaper than a babysitter! My hope is that this means there will also be Nick at Night programming for Car 54 on-demand.

4. CBS Sports: NFL football, NCAA sports, golf, tennis — not necessarily live, but still a great accompaniment to chips and dip.

3. IndieFlix Premier: With Oscar-nominated pieces like “Fields of Mudan,” IndieFlix presents some of the better independent short films from the festival circuit.

2. Comedy Central: When I still had cable, this was generally my starting point on a channel surf. Hopefully there’s a way to filter out Carlos Mencia.

1. Ren and Stimpy: If there’s one reason to install Joost, this is it.

All this talk, but no Joost for you? Liz has five invites for the first people who comment with links to new web video worth watching.

 

Sphere
Topic: Software
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Comments & Trackbacks

  1. The funniest thing on the web right now is from Atlanta Public Television: Alexyss Tylor’s Vagina Power. (audio NSFW)
    http://www.devilducky.com/media/60668/

    a reader on April 19th, 2007 at 5:30 pm - Permalink

  2. http://www.brightcove.com/channel.jsp?channel=164931251

    RealMeals.tv is worth a gander.

    Andy Rhinehart on April 19th, 2007 at 5:32 pm - Permalink

  3. Agreed. Watched the whole thing multiple times. Hilare!

    It would be especially nice if Joost allowed me to pull in content like that to my own channel, at least privately or to share with my friend network or something. Would rather watch that than Diddy any day!

    Jackson West on April 19th, 2007 at 5:33 pm - Permalink

  4. Please… please… Oh sweet screaming mother of mercy, remove BET. There has to be a better number ten that you can choose.

    Man on April 19th, 2007 at 6:25 pm - Permalink

  5. New web video? Humm,

    Does this count?
    God Inc (http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=francisstokesdotcom)
    or
    somethingtobedesired.com

    or a blog that features the best videos:
    No Fat Clips!!! (http://dekku.blogspot.com/)
    But to be honest, I;m still waiting for something real BIG to come out.

    Klim on April 19th, 2007 at 6:34 pm - Permalink

  6. What can I say. I’m no true fan. I once had to edit out the blue language and simulated violence from a 36 Mafia video before BET would accept it. But I’d still rather watch BET than VH1, if only, as I mentioned, to down-rank Diddy.

    What I really wish is that there was an option to select “The Box,” but nobody who didn’t live in New York City in the mid 90’s would get that.

    Jackson West on April 19th, 2007 at 6:39 pm - Permalink

  7. You can re-create The Box on YouTube pretty easily — just search for every and all Bone Thugs-N-Harmony videos

    a reader on April 19th, 2007 at 7:00 pm - Permalink

  8. Damn. That actually hurts. I’m sorry for ever mentioning Diddy, BET or The Box. I promise to watch nothing but “Best Week Ever” for the rest of my life.

    Jackson West on April 19th, 2007 at 7:17 pm - Permalink

  9. I too am in search of a joost beta invite. Thanks in advance if you can hook me up. My recommendation for web video… http://throwawayyourtv.videosift.com/

    cyenobite [at] gmail [dot] com

    cyen on April 19th, 2007 at 7:18 pm - Permalink

  10. We don’t need no steenkin’ Joost invites.

    In fact, I don’t think that I’ve looked at the thing since I installed it.

    But I will put in a plug for the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theater. Two socks who do Shakespear, country & western, Reservoir Dogs and whatnot.

    I am in no way connected with this, I swear.

    http://www.youtube.com/sitcomtrials

    Mark Day on April 19th, 2007 at 11:23 pm - Permalink

  11. Great write-up! I couldn’t agree with you more - except maybe putting the IndieFlix channel closer to the top. One of my friends got an award at Sundance last year and since then I’ve kind of gotten hooked on the genre. I wonder if they have shortfilm and animation type shows like Image Union and Shortfilm Showcase. If you’d look deep down into the center of your soul to where that perfect little diamond of love for your fellow man lies, maybe you’ll find that the brilliant light that it bathes your heart in warms you just enough to send me an invite so I can check out the IndieFlix Channel and be forever in your debt.

    Here’s to George Washington:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZCNrf0IH_U

    Thanks so much!

    Johnny Boy on April 20th, 2007 at 12:43 am - Permalink

  12. Oh yeah! Please send to shairdjo[at]msu[dot]edu

    Thanks again!

    Johnny Boy on April 20th, 2007 at 12:45 am - Permalink

  13. IndieFlix is brilliant! Some of the films on there are actually feature length.

    But no Ren and Stimpy in Europe?!?! Come on!

    Tom Clarke on April 20th, 2007 at 3:37 am - Permalink

  14. I just heard about this, sounds great I can’t wait to try it when it finally goes public

    nazaire on April 20th, 2007 at 3:55 am - Permalink

  15. [...] Exec VP David Clark recently gave an interview to CBS TV showing off Joost.  He started by describing the quality of the picture, and the universe of [...]

    Will Joost finally succeed with Interactive TV? -- Alec Saunders .LOG on April 20th, 2007 at 4:10 am - Permalink

  16. Does the selection of channels available on Joost depend on the location they are watched from?

    I live in Germany and I don’t see CSI or National Geographic!? National Geographic used to be available on Joost. But a couple of weeks ago, it disappeared from my channel list…

    Björn Ognibeni on April 20th, 2007 at 4:55 am - Permalink

  17. if you can make it past the obligatory butt shots in episode one, the series gets fairly amusing in a rich, hispanic, dysfunctional, lingerie empire, family sort of way @ alamoheightsSA.com.

    worth watching in both english and spanish, even if you only speak one language, for some strange reason.

    shows hope for original scripted series that aren’t rehashed old tv stories.

    zane on April 20th, 2007 at 8:25 am - Permalink

  18. [...] Hacks I and IIFoundRead: How Loomia got its mojo backNewTeeVee: 7-minute Sopranos - the Inside JobNewTeeVee: Ten Joost Channels worth watching Share/E-mail | Sphere | Print | Topic: Asides | Tags: [...]

    GigaOM » What’s on GigaNET on April 20th, 2007 at 1:00 pm - Permalink

  19. [...] of my favorite blogs, NewTeeVee has a post up on Ten Joost Channels Worth Watching. They end it with the following [...]

    0.9.2 Joost Update « The Official Lair of Daniela on April 20th, 2007 at 1:12 pm - Permalink

  20. You might enjoy these clips from MORTIFIED SHORT BUS. Elements of which are currently playing This American Life’s new Showtime series

    dave on April 20th, 2007 at 1:13 pm - Permalink

  21. You might enjoy these clips from MORTIFIED SHORT BUS. Elements of which are currently playing This American Life’s new Showtime series

    http://getmortified.com/shortbus

    Enjoy

    dave on April 20th, 2007 at 1:14 pm - Permalink

  22. Can I please get the invite to Joost?
    Here is the link to the video:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slpElBClGy8

    It is interesting advertisement by AirTel (A wireless company in India.)

    Vivek Shah on April 20th, 2007 at 2:01 pm - Permalink

  23. [...] the remote control - which I use to watch multiple channels simultaneously. I also agree with Jackson West that content is still an issues- thought it has gotten more diverse with each release and it’s [...]

    Pete’s View on April 21st, 2007 at 2:02 pm - Permalink

  24. [...] 10 canali che vale la pena guardare su Joost Li propone NewTeeVee: BET, Logo, Showtime Boxing, National Geographic, CSI, Nickelodeon, CBS Sports, Indieflix, Comedy Central, Ren and Stimpy (tags: joost nettv p2p) [...]

    VOIPBLOG.IT » I links di domenica 22 aprile on April 22nd, 2007 at 12:19 am - Permalink

  25. Can I please get the invite to Joost?

    ahmad hegazy on April 22nd, 2007 at 6:00 am - Permalink

  26. I have been playing with Joost for several weeks now. I have yet to make it 100% of the way through any program on any channel without getting an error message saying the content is currently unavailable and suggesting that I watch something else. After doing a bit of searching and reading multiple forums and blogs I realize that I am hardly alone in being dumped mid program.

    This abandonment is exacerbated by the inability to fast froward or to pick up where one left off in the offending program. I was 22 minutes into a National Geo program got dumped and have been unable to resume without blowing another 22 minutes rewatching the program.

    Until they iron out the delivery bug (including freezes and frame lag) content is a non issue.

    lola_ice on April 22nd, 2007 at 7:13 am - Permalink

  27. The problem is, of the hundred of channels on cable…there are just a handful worth watching. JOOST is just in Beta…if you can find 10 that is great. I would definitely agree with those plus the music options have some excellent choices.

    Adrian keys on April 22nd, 2007 at 8:11 am - Permalink

  28. [...] Find the full rundown here. [...]

    Techscape » Blog Archive » Is there anything actually worth watching on Joost? on April 23rd, 2007 at 5:21 am - Permalink

  29. @ Björn Ognibeni

    yeah, that may be the problem with these vid sites, the timezone thing, which means the rest of the world will continue to behave in the usual manner, mainly torrents.

    gaz on April 23rd, 2007 at 9:57 pm - Permalink

  30. [...] recently rounded up some of the best video on Joost; the company claims more than 150 channels currently, with not much [...]

    NewTeeVee » Joost Lets In Anyone Who Knows Anyone on May 1st, 2007 at 8:21 am - Permalink

  31. [...] dahin: NewTeeVee haben aus dem Joostwust* 10 sehenswerte Joostkanäle gefischt. (Es gibt mehr [...]

    neunetz.com » Joost Launch (so gut wie) on May 1st, 2007 at 3:23 pm - Permalink

  32. [...] pretty extensively, and by and large Dave and I agree with everyone’s assessments: There’s not enough good content and the full-screen mode is irritating. (I don’t like the navigation in general, but I think [...]

    Zatz Not Funny!»Blog Archive » Ready, Set… Joost on May 3rd, 2007 at 6:10 am - Permalink

  33. i agree. BET shouldnt be number 10. but i really like Ministry of Sound TV channels…. different stuff, and at least we get to see cute girls in the music videos!

    jell-o tech on May 20th, 2007 at 3:33 pm - Permalink

  34. i think you undestand for who dusant pleaseeeeeeee an invite to joooooooooooooost ?please

    please give me jooooooooost on May 26th, 2007 at 8:35 am - Permalink

  35. HELP
    I want to start using my XBOX360 to stream IPTV.
    Are there plugins?
    how can I make it happen?
    K

    KDj on June 1st, 2007 at 6:11 am - Permalink

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