Comcast turns down Joost, company still shopping itself

Joost looks like it will have to go back to the drawing board, as Comcast has reportedly passed on purchasing the reeling online video portal. While Time Warner Cable reportedly remains interested, the Comcast setback probably doesn't help Joost's bargaining position or asking price. Comcast's recent announcement to bolster its Fancast offering probably ruled out any real chance of a Joost acquisition, anyway.

Joost raised $45 million in venture capital in 2007, due in large part to co-founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom's excellent track record with Skype and Kazaa. Joost has struggled to compete with YouTube, and then Hulu, changing business models from a downloadable P2P client to a web-based one, while still failing to attract more than 1 million unique monthly visitors.

Joost still has solid technology though, and it could be a good acquisition for a company with a lot of solid content deals in place or proprietary rights to content that would allow it to leverage the Joost platform for an online video or IPTV offering, instead of having to build its own. 

For more:
- see the Mulitchannel News article here 

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