Joost was due to be the next big thing, and created such a buzz in its infancy, was talked about positively all around the blogosphere and beyond.

Now, that seems to have all but ended, with the latest talk around the Internet being all negative, and even discussing the possibility of the company and service not being able to last until the end of the year.

The Trend For Knocking Joost

Mathew Ingram seems to have started the trend for knocking Joost, with an interesting post in the wake of the firing of the company’s chief technology officer Dirk-Willem van Gulik.

Gulik has now been hired by the BBC to directly work on their iPlayer, which recently racked up its millionth viewer despite reservations over the remaining inequality in the service. Joost’s loss is the BBC’s gain.

But whereas he was only asking questions of the direction the company is heading, and warning of its possible early demise, a number of other technology blogs and bloggers have been much more critical.

I’m a huge fan of Boing Boing, the gadgets and wonderful things blog, so I was as excited as anyone at the thought of Boing Boing TV. So I must admit to being slightly disappointed int eh first episode to say the least. 

Despite the mild and in some places sycophantic praise being bandied around, in my opinion the first episode royally sucked.

Why?

For me, Rocketboom has long been the Boing Boing of Internet TV/Web Video/call it what you will. And Rocketboom has perfected the format, fine tuning it to a veritable art form. 

In comparison, Boing Boing TV feels like a weak latecomer to the game. It’s a shame the partnership between the two never came off.

Not so long ago, Amanda Congdon split from Rocketboom, and the news of the separation was the biggest news in the blogosphere.

It was all over Techmeme for days, as everyone pored over her blog posts and comments by Rocketboom founder Andrew Baron.

For those who have forgotten, Amanda co-created or co-owned or was hired to front (depending on whom you believe) Rocketboom before leaving over a row with Baron.

Now, there are reports that she has parted company with ABC — where she was doing occasional video reports — and there has been barely a peep. Why? Hard to say, really. 

Internet Video is quickly becoming a the new hip medium for quality niche television. While we have admittedly seen an influx of poorly put together videos in the flurry of user generated content, among them are a few that shine.

Over the past year we have seen hugely popular video blogs & TV series make their way online such as Rocketboom and LonelyGirl15. Carving out a presence for a video channel or vlog takes a good understanding of web 2.0 tactics. 

One video blog which has risen to success using the web 2.0 approach is 
Mobuzz.tv. Mobuzz.tv is a great success story and here I will look at exactly how web 2.0 production values have created a knock-out news show from a small studio in Madrid, Spain.

Looking at the Joost interface it will be obvious to many that this is something that you could imagine on your TV screen. In fact, the first moment I saw Joost I thought that’s exactly where the company wants to take it.

Mike Volpi, the new CEO of Joost arriving from Cisco. told The New York Times that:

Joost is a piece of software and it can reside on a variety of platforms… It could be on a television set-top box. Or potentially it could be imbedded in a TV set with an Ethernet connection, or on a mobile phone, or in some alternative device that might come out in the future. The flexibility is really high.”

Possible Set Top Box Partners

But who will this STB partner be? Joost could theoretically just go out there and strike a deal with any STB manufacturer to create a Joost IPTV box that will bring Joost to the TV set.

However, I’ll put my money on the fact that they are also waiting for a deal with a popular brand with a large consumer base.

Let's look at the options:

This video is part of Frontline’s News War documentary series which looks at the controversy and changes in the news industry. The online episode is interesting to us web TV fans as it looks specifically at how the internet is effecting the media, with the video blog Rocketboom as a lead example.

Old journalism boundaries are gone. Today, "anyone with a laptop can be a reporter."

Click here to watch the episode.