Babelgum, another peer-to-peer telly service, opens up for new beta testers from today.

Like Joost the service requires a downloaded client, but then gives users ad-supported viewing of various niche channels. While Joost is backed by venture capitalists, Babelgum is backed by Italian telco magnate Silvio Scaglia. The service uses peer-to-peer technology to distribute video content.

Limited numbers of the new version of the client software are available to download each day. Downloads were proceeding slowly at the time of writing.

Video content is professionally created rather than user generated and is divided into nine themed channels. Users can also create their own "smart" channels to sort content according to their preferences.

For content owners, Babelgum promises access to the web market without users getting access to downloaded content. Cash will be generated by targeting advertising, revenue from which will be split 50:50 between content owners and Babelgum. Until the end of this year Babelgum is guaranteeing content owners at least $5 per 1,000 video views.

Babelgum promises: "We do not accept offensive, hateful, or pornographic material that is not suitable for general viewing."

The company has headquarters in Ireland and offices in the UK, US, and France.

More from Babelgum. ®

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