Italian rival Joost - Babelgum

Joost is not the only peer-to-peer Internet TV service preparing for release. There is a similar European startup called Babelgum , a public beta version of which will be available on May 31. Now 4000 beta testers are testing the closed beta, and 15,000 users are on the waiting list. Babelgum provides mostly free videos from AP, Reuters, and the BBC, however, after opening the service in the summer, the list will be expanded.

Sharing P2P and server technologies, Babelgum has to deliver long videos over the Internet with television quality.

Babelgum uses a similar technology that is used in Joost. The only difference is that the developers of Joost, a little earlier (by the way, the creators of Skype and Kazaa), have already received $ 45 million of investment, and also have a half-million army of beta testers and a wider choice of TV shows.

As it turned out, Babelgum has a Joost-like interface, which the Babelgum developers were very surprised at:

When I first saw the screenshots of Joost, I was most struck by the similarity of the main elements. Different teams acted on the same principles. But we have not changed anything. In our opinion, this formation of a new market is a long way.

Well, the wait is not long - we will soon find out who will win in this new market of services.