The entrepreneurs behind the Skype telephone service unveiled their new video venture Tuesday, calling "Joost" the world's first internet TV station to stream shows in crisp broadcast quality.

While still in its beta testing phase, the video service — formerly code-named the Venice Project — is intended to eventually give broadcasters a global audience through an online outlet, promising to change the way people watch videos on the net.

"Yesterday, we were the Venice Project. Today, we're Joost. Tomorrow, we're yours!" the start-up website, launched Tuesday morning, boasts. "Imagine having infinite choice, and TV that is truly interactive. TV anywhere, anytime …"

Joost is being described as a peer-to-peer network in which users surf channels by clicking on their playlist menus. Much like TiVO, users can watch programs any time of the day, with the ability to skip back or ahead in parts of the show.

"People are looking for increased choice and flexibility in their TV experience, while the entertainment industry needs to retain control over their content," Joost CEO Fredrik de Wahl said in a release. "With Joost, we've married that consumer desire with the industry's interests."

Application free and safe

And the application, which claims to be piracy-proof, is free. Anyone with a broadband internet connection can download the software and become a viewer, as well as chat on the system.

"We've received positive and constructive feed back from our early beta-testers and are now at a stage where we're ready to reveal our true brand," de Wahl said, adding that major industry players will work with Joost in a way that protects TV copyrights. 

Specifics about the technology are sparse, but co-founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis — the same team behind file-sharing program Kazaa and the $2.6-billion eBay-acquired Skype service — say the service will be mostly ad-supported. Still, advertising will be less frequent than on regular TV.

"Peer-to-peer technology is perfect for delivering broadcast in a very scalable way on the internet,'' Friis said in a videotaped interview on the Joost website.

Joost has planned a broad public release for the first half of this year and will launch the 0.8 version shortly, de Wahl said.