Poor Joost – a classic case study in bad timing, this online video platform is finally putting itself up for sale in what is clearly a last-resort move:
Joost is looking to sell itself and become an online video platform for cable or satellite operators, with Time Warner Cable supposedly interested, according to an anonymously sourced article at CNET. When asked about it, a Joost rep provided us with a “we don’t comment on rumors” email.
A blog post on Joost’s site comes with this gem from its CEO:
That’s just a partial list, because we’re not close to being done yet, and nothing, not brain-eating aliens, not cats on skateboards, and not rumors and speculation, will keep us from continuing on our mission to bring video to you over the internet. In the afterglow of the hype of our early days, we’ve had our fair share of critics, but we’re encouraged every day by the amount of feedback emails, tweets, Facebook comments and more that we receive from our fans. The team here continues to work hard, every day, to make Joost a success, and we thank you for your continued support.
Clearly, he’s in rumor non-denial denial mode, hedging bets and reassuring everyone it’s still a viable platform. I like the defiant, “we’ve had our fair share of critics” part, written as if some of those criticisms weren’t warranted.
Don’t get me wrong, Joost actually was game-changing technology when it first came out. It was the first platform where viewing a full-length TV show on your computer wasn’t an awful experience. The problem is, as everyone now knows, it was quickly outdone by Hulu’s better experience, and only its relaunch as a web-based platform (as opposed to a downloadable software) and an iPhone app have kept Joost alive – even if it’s on life-support.
But does this platform make sense for the likes of Time Warner Cable? Possibly – if they know something we don’t know. TWC already has a video download site, something that was intended to be their long-term solution for Video On Demand once their set-tops are Internet enabled. But where the interesting opportunities arise is if TWC uses Joost’s technology to develop a response to NetFlix’s video streaming service directly to the TV. The pay-per-download market is crowded and tough. Perhaps TWC (or whichever cable system purchases Joost) sees this as a way to hedge their bets with an unlimited stream model?
Will be fun to see how this shakes out.
