Joost, a player-based video for Internet TV viewing, received a lot of early press and made some initial deals with Viacom and CBS for video delivery. Lately, though, Joost has been buffeted by competition from Hulu (NBC & Fox), the BBC iPlayer and Kangaroo. Rumors of cutbacks, though not true according to the CEO Mike Volpi, have also rocked the company, according to Gigaom on Sunday.

In contrast to a Sunday Times report in the UK which said Joost would focus only on the U.S., Mr. Volpi explained to Gigaom, "We are focusing on US, Western Europe, China and a few other Asian markets. Taking a more measured approach to our expansion, and keeping it in sync with markets where online advertising is mature enough."

Joost was created by Skype co-founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis. Nowadays, Mr. Volpi, an ex-Cisco executive, runs the company, but it remains under close scrutiny by investors.

The Joost player for Macs and PCs allows viewers to "tune" into a variety of TV shows whenever they like. A sophisticated system of severs provides smooth streaming. While it looked for a time as if Joost would be the next big thing, companies that deliver video on the Internet have lately tended to go their own way, leaving Joost struggling for content.

Recently, Joost announced that it would add a Web-based player. Even so, Joost has struggled, may have kept its native player in semi-closed beta for too long, come under some heavy criticism, and needs to engage in some sharp maneuvering to remain viable in the future.