Viacom to Offer TV, Film Content on Joost P2P Streaming Platform

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 20, 2007 - 10:25am.

New York - Media conglomerate Viacom announced on Tuesday that it will distribute MTV, BET and Paramount content on Joost, the peer-to-peer-based streaming TV platform launched by the creators of Kazaa and Skype.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"We're extremely pleased to be working with Joost, and couldn't be prouder to be a key partner in the launch of the next generation in broadband video technology," said Viacom president and CEO Philippe Dauman.

Viacom recently served Google's YouTube a notice to remove over 100,000 clips of its copyrighted TV shows, and has since hinted at plans to distribute its programming on its own website, and via other platforms.

The deal with Joost includes episodes of "Laguna Beach," "Beavis & Butthead" and "Stella," as well as full-length Paramount films; the Viacom programming on Joost will include links that lead to more information or related websites.

The Joost platform also offers instant messaging, message boards and news tickers.