Currently in beta testing, Joost (pronounced “juiced”) was founded by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, who also are responsible for Internet phone service Skype and the original Kazaa, which they eventually sold to Sharman Networks. Until this year, the company was officially known as The Venice Project, but switched to the Joost handle in January.

Joost wants to be your TV site on the Web by including current as well as archival programming. Unlike YouTube, which removes copyrighted material upon request but otherwise does not actively search its own inventory for violations, Joost is promising potential content providers that it can provide a safe, pirate-free environment for video.

It was such a promise that evidently lured Viacom into giving Joost a try. Two weeks after the entertainment giant ordered YouTube to pull all Viacom content, the company made a deal with Joost for hundreds of hours of both current and archived programming, including Paramount and TV programming from the company’s well-known brands like Comedy Central and MTV.

But why would Viacom, or for that matter, any major entertainment company, want to make a deal with an outfit like Joost? Simply put, they understand the need to go where the viewers are, and the viewers want to watch TV programming when they want to see it, not when networks want them to see it.

“We’re extremely pleased to be working with Joost, and couldn’t be prouder to be a key partner in the launch of the next generation in broadband video technology,” Viacom President and CEO Philippe Dauman said.

“We built this platform from the ground up, with companies like Viacom in mind,” said Joost co-founder Friis. “Our platform provides scalable distribution, in a completely safe environment that protects the interest of content owners and advertisers, while delighting viewers.”

Hi Ho Veoh!

Then there’s Veoh, a new video enterprise that does want its clients’ content on sites like YouTube, MySpace and FaceBook.

Distribution is the dynamic that powers Veoh, which serves as kind of a one-stop place on the Web where a content provider can hit all the major sites by uploading to one single Internet address. Once uploaded, the videos can be distributed to the aforementioned Web sites plus blogs, Really Simple Syndication feeds, even iPods.

Veoh also harnesses peer-to-peer technology to have Veoh users carry some of the load required for delivering large video files. With users’ individual computers sending small portions of files, viewers will receive the video much quicker than if the content was posted on a central server.

Another feature is Veoh’s Web-based digital recorder service, meaning you can record all your favorite programs for later viewing via the company’s Web site, the perfect answer for the couch potato who is miles away from the sofa.

But what is really catching the entertainment industry’s interest is the list of heavy hitters that are already involved with Veoh. Former Disney chairman / CEO Michael Eisner is on the Veoh team, and Time Warner is a key investor.

Along with streaming previously aired TV programming and functioning like a DVR, Veoh has closed a deal with US Weekly magazine to create a celebrity news channel, and has an agreement with United Talent Agency to create a channel to showcase the work of aspiring actors and directors.

Sites like Joost and Veoh are just the beginning as the separate worlds of Internet and TV come closer to that inevitable day when both mediums become indistinguishable. Already Internet reality clips are making their way to TV news programs while television learns how to increase its audience via the Web.

Maybe that’s why Veoh chief executive Dmitry Chapiro calls his company a “virtual cable operator.” After all, it’s hardly just another Web site. Or, for that matter, another TV channel.