Joost, the internet-TV service set up by the technology gurus behind Skype and Kazaa, today unveiled content agreements with Turner Broadcasting and Sony as it heads towards a full-blown launch later in the spring.

The deals mean that users of the free internet service will be able to watch content from Turner including CNN’s Larry King Live. Sony Pictures Television will make 1970s repeats of Charlie’s Angels, Spiderman, and Starsky & Hutch available.

Joost, developed by Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, who sold Skype, the internet telephony service to eBay for $2.6 billion (£1.3 billion), will allow users to download free software from the company’s website.

Video content to be streamed to PCs in the form of encrypted packages of data, designed to thwart pirates. Viewers will be able to access content on demand, but will not be able to download or store programmes.

Employing a new "hybrid" technology model, Joost will store content on a central database, but will also use a "peer-to-peer" network, formed from individual users’ PCs, to amplify its distributive power.

Joost already has a content deal in place with Viacom, the media giant that owns MTV. Endemol UK, the Big Brother producer, and Warner Music Group, the US music label, have also agreed to supply content.

Last week Joost said that it had lined up more than 30 advertisers, including Coca-Cola, Nike, Nokia and Unilever, for the launch of its service, which will stream free, advertising-supported content to viewers via the internet.

"The appeal of Joost is that it offers the mass audience of TV alongside the 'accountability' of the net - in other words the ability to click through from ads on the screen," said Rhys McLachlan, the head of broadcast implentation at Media Com, part of the media buying arm of WPP.

However, reports that the service could be launched today proved premature. A Joost spokesman said that the service was “launched commercially” today. But users still have to be invited to join-up and watch.

Joost’s founders sport a stunning track record in building hugely popular software, including Kazaa, the file-sharing platform that eventually fell foul of complaints of piracy from the music industry.

However, they are entering a fiercely competitive market. Apple, Amazon and YouTube, the Google-owned site, all provide TV content online.

A rival peer-to-peer site, Babelgum, which uses the same sort of technology as Joost, has been set up by Silvio Scaglia, the Italian internet entrepreneur who co-founded Fastnet, the Italian broadband group. Mr Scaglia has said that he is prepared to sink €350 million (£235 million) of his personal fortune into the new service.

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