Is it Time to Quit Cable?

Cable TV service sucks! Most Americans get more satisfaction from waiting in line at the bank, visiting the post office and conversations with their insurance company then they do from their Satellite or cable provider.

According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, Cable and Satellite TV companies perpetually scrape the bottom of the barrel when it comes to customer satisfaction. The numbers for cable and satellite are worse then all other industries
ranked by the ACSI and they are getting worse.

Good News/Bad News: Joost Gets $45 Million, Networks get Fewer Viewers

Good news: Today Joost announced they raised $45 million bucks with power VC firm’s from around the globe and a YouTube hating media giant. The deal brings together Index Ventures of the EU, Sequoia Capital of Silicon Valley fame, and the Li Ka-shing foundation run by Hong Kong based billionaire, Li Ka-shing. The international focus of the money flowing into the coffers of Joost is telling as is the participation of the GooTube hating crew at Viacom. The real shocker isnt that Joost got a butt load of money, its that with all the MBA’s, consultants, researchers, futurist and pundits, that are employed by the media companies only Viacom was smart or savvy enough to get in on the deal.

Playing with Joost Ads and Channels

Today I discovered something really interesting on Joost, ad’s. Thats right apparently they are starting to play with interesting ads on the service. From the initial ads that have been served to me the good folks at Joost seem to be toying with a few different models. So far I’ve seen three different types of ads: The first was your standard linear TV styled 10-30 second clip inserted within shows. I also saw AdBrite styled graphic ads that hovvered on the bottom of the screen for a few seconds and the disappeared. There was also smaller interactive logos of sponsoring companies that appear at the top of the page but I only saw a few of these and wasnt fast enough to grab a screen.

Joost Signs Deal with CBS

CBS just put out a press release announcing that they have cut a deal with Joost to show “first run and other premium content”. They are slated to launch content through the application in the spring and say that it will come from a bunch of the CBS divisions. The release says that they will make both new shows as well as previously aired stuff available via Joost. The content is supposed to included top rated shows like CSI: Hoboken and Survivor: Luxembourg.

Check out the full release here and watch for more details to come.

Joost Invites on eBay: Buy Them Now for $85

I was trolling the Joost forums looking for a way to get back one of the invites I sent out, the person I sent it to is sitting on it, when I saw a comment about selling invites on eBay. I was curious so I popped over to eBay to see what the deal was and sure enough 10 auctions are happening right now for Joost invites. The prices were all over the map, ranging from around $5 at the low end to $85. Click on the screen shot to enlarge it and note that the first auction, with 14 bids, is about to end at 18 bucks! I cant remember what Gmail invites were going for on eBay but I dont think they were this hot.

I’m gonna have to post a list of the beta launches you all have to be a part of so you dont end up buying your way in via eBay.