Skype founders to launch P2P IPTV for millions of people?

According to the Financial Times report, Janus Friis and our man Niklas Zennstrom -- whom you may know from a little company called Skype -- are supposedly developing a peer-to-peer IPTV service with the intention of distributing video online the same way Skype and its P2P approach distributed VoIP calling online. Supposedly some six thousand users have already been in on beta testing (what, none of you thought to ping your old pals at Engadget?) this service, aptly codenamed the Venice Project probably after the community of streams. The system is intended for use by copyright-holding content owners who no doubt intend to advertise on this new network; their video data is encrypted so the P2P here isn't the same kind of P2P you might be thinking of. Friis apparently demonstrated full quality full motion video to the FT at a local Starbucks -- where all new internet projects shown off before launch -- but there's no way of knowing how real world use will clog the proverbial tubes; right now P2P video TV might not work the smoothest considering that no matter what upstream bandwidth will never equal the downstream bandwidth necessary to sustain millions of viewers, but that will begin to change in the coming years.

[VoIP fan @ Dec 26th 2006 7:11PM]

These guys are great, they sold Kazaa just on time before it became worthless. And now they also sold Skype just on time before all the cheap companies take over the market (like; http://www.voipproducts.eu/betamax-rates/)
And now they enter a new hot market. Probably they will sell it soon.

[smeffers @ Dec 18th 2006 4:04AM]

isn't this similar to ppstream?

[dos @ Dec 18th 2006 4:06AM]

Sounds like a stuffy corporate version of GBStv ;) http://gbs.tv/

[berard @ Dec 18th 2006 4:12AM]

Sorry for not bugging you about this, in fact I find it amazing you didn't know ;)

Anyway, I'm a beta tester, so if you'd like some feedback or information on certain points, I'll try to tell you as much as possible (we are bound by a strict NDA).

[JLH @ Oct 22nd 2007 9:40PM]

A significant debate is underway in the courts, the Congress and federal regulatory agencies regarding decisions that are being made within the electronics, content and computer industries - about how to best protect copyrighted material in a digital world. Right now the internet is not safe for users to view or download files without potentially infringing on copyrights and suffering large fines, penalties or even worse.

An ever-increasing number of unlicensed downloads are taking place in private homes all over the world. According to recent data, over twelve million people are simultaneously sharing 1.08 billion music, movie, and software files on the Internet at any given moment.
Imagine a person or child sitting down in front of a Television with a remote and selecting a few dozen channels or video on demand selections and finding out later that they have committed copyright infringement and are being asked to pay several hundred thousand dollars in fines. What makes this even worse is there is really no way to determine if a certain piece of content is appropriate for use, copyrighted or not, until the damage is already done.

A typical internet user does not build the internet applications, program the search engines, or manage the internet networks that they use. More could be done with these key elements of the internet to insure that standards are set that provide a higher degree of safety from copyright infringement or exposure to inappropriate content. We live in a society that requires people to wear seat belts; Why?, because they provide an additional layer of protection from unnecessary injury.

A national copyright and rating database could serve as a seat belt for the internet to protect users from injury as well. Copyrighted materiel could be registered along with an associated audience rating of the content allowing internet applications, search engines and network operators to establish national standards for digital rights management.
Now is the time for us all to work together to provide a level of protection from unnecessary injury and make the internet safe again for average citizens in their homes.
Thank you for your leadership in this important social and technological issue.

[Tuig @ Dec 18th 2006 4:45AM]

I still remember visiting Janus and Niklas in their basement office somewhere in Amsterdam years ago... When Kazaa was in a similar stage as this is now... It's great to witness the irony, using the same technology concept and first applying it to uncontrolled (mostly illegal) music sharing, then to a less-controversial-but-still-anti-establishment peer-to-peer voip service and now they're holding hands with the DRM overlords from the start.

[artifex @ Dec 18th 2006 5:55AM]

Was the demo using Starbuck's hotspot or was the shop conveniently located across the street from an office with a directional antenna, giving them the bandwidth they needed? :)

No, really. If it was done using the shop's connection, that speaks well for it's ability to handle large data flows. I'm still not paying for it, though :)

[blue @ Dec 18th 2006 7:59AM]

I read there's an invite system google mail like... so anyone got som invite for me?

[Lee @ Dec 18th 2006 8:07AM]

I'm also a beta tester and while I'm bound by the NDA, I can say it's a very, very cool platform, all they have left to work on are content issues. There are leaked pics out there if you google right.

There are invites, so expect a gmail-style ebay thing to happen once they start giving them out.

[vystral @ Dec 18th 2006 9:03AM]

I'm a beta tester. I agree with the other two. The platform is very cool and functional (says it requires winxp sp2, but sp1 works), the only problem is the total lack of content. The only major provider I noticed was MTV. Yeah, like I'm going to watch MTV reruns..ever..

[berard @ Dec 18th 2006 9:09AM]

there is already an invite on ebay (not coming from me) :

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290062775118

[jonathan @ Dec 18th 2006 2:44PM]

If someone is so generous to give me a free one: jonathan.de.beir[@]gmail.com

[Bernardo Hicks @ Dec 18th 2006 5:00PM]

I would love to beta test for this. Anyone got an invite for me. We are looking to get our content in with services like this.... check our content out at hi-flitones.com

[Mike H @ Dec 19th 2006 11:44AM]

This looks pretty cool. I hear you can flip through channels instantly without buffering time. That makes a big difference there in making the user experience more like watching regular TV. Hopefully its a bit smoother than what I get on my slingbox.

If anyone has an extra invite handy I'd love to try it out. :) groostl [at] yahoo.com

[Wigletbill @ Dec 21st 2006 9:36PM]

Send me an invite puhhhlease.

[iptv bob @ Jan 4th 2007 1:17AM]

Guys, any idea who else is going to play the iptv sector? google maybe? any rumors? - bob at http://iptv-coverage.com