Joost, one of YouTube's rivals, signed a deal with several companies that will make the application more competitive for the Google product. The new partners, CNN, Sony and NHL, will enhance the Joost features to help it broadcast television using the Internet protocols. Some time ago, when Joost was announced, the YouTube fans were describing the product as a weak rival that will be easily beaten by the Google online video sharing service. However, the considerable number of partnerships made by Joost, gets the application closer to YouTube, causing the beginning of a new Google threat. Recently, the founders of the service, the same producers who created Skype and Kazaa, announced their plans to update the product to a public beta and allow all users to test it.

At this time, Joost is only commercial available, the producers requiring an invitation sent by the registered members of the solution. Since the release of the first beta program, Joost was only a private testing tool, its developers sending invitations to some of the subscribed members. "Later this month we will be completely open and allow anyone to download the Joost software from the company's Web site. This is the way you normally ramp up peer-to-peer software ... and it's a way to give our (beta tester) friends a little bit of a scoop," said Yvette Alberdingk Thijm, the company's top executive for content acquisition, according to Yahoo News.

Joost will offer several new peer-to-peer videos, its content being enhanced with "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" and "Robot Chicken" and "Larry King Live". Using the agreement with Sony, Joost will broadcast "Charlie's Angels" and "Starsky & Hutch". On Friday, it was Sony's eyeVio. Today, it is the improved Joost. No matter the name of the rival, YouTube is more and more challenged and this competition is good especially for us, the users because it can provide only better services and improved performance.