Byline: By richard siklos section: Section C; Column 5; Business/Financial Desk; Pg. 1 Length


URL: http://www.nytimes.com SUBJECT



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URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: ENTREPRENEURSHIP (93%); YOUTH CLUBS & ACTIVITIES (90%); BAKED GOODS (91%); STUDENTS & STUDENT LIFE (78%); SALES FORCE (78%); SALES & SELLING (78%); MARKETING & ADVERTISING EXPENDITURE (76%); SALES MANAGEMENT (76%); PERSONAL FINANCE (68%); NEW CAR DEALERS (50%); BAKERIES (78%); MARKETING & ADVERTISING (74%); BUSINESS PLANS (77%) Bakeries and Baked Products; Cookies; Advertising and Marketing; Entrepreneurship; Sales; Bakeries and Baked Products
COMPANY: MERRILL LYNCH & CO INC (56%)
ORGANIZATION: SCOUT ASSOCIATION (83%) Girl Scouts
TICKER: MLY (LSE) (56%); MER (NYSE) (56%); 8675 (TSE) (56%)
INDUSTRY: NAICS523930 INVESTMENT ADVICE (55%); NAICS523920 PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT (55%); NAICS523120 SECURITIES BROKERAGE (55%); NAICS523110 INVESTMENT BANKING AND SECURITIES DEALING (55%); SIC6282 INVESTMENT ADVICE (55%); SIC6211 SECURITY BROKERS, DEALERS, & FLOTATION COMPANIES (55%)
PERSON: Elizabeth Olson
GEOGRAPHIC: SEATTLE, WA, USA (79%) WASHINGTON, USA (79%); CALIFORNIA, USA (70%) UNITED STATES (79%)
LOAD-DATE: March 1, 2007
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: Photo: Leah Koch, 14, of Chicago uses e-mail messages to snag cookie orders. She sold more than 1,500 boxes last year, making her a top seller locally. A few weeks ago, she was sorting more than 1,700 boxes in her home. (Photo by Peter Wynn Thompson for The New York Times)
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company



1080 of 1258 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
March 1, 2007 Thursday

Late Edition - Final


Tainted by Corruption, Mayor in Russia Is Stripped of Authority
BYLINE: AP
SECTION: Section A; Column 1; Foreign Desk; Pg. 5
LENGTH: 571 words
DATELINE: MOSCOW, Feb. 28
The mayor of Vladivostok, the largest city in Russia's Far East, was stripped of his authority on Wednesday in a criminal investigation into suspect land deals and embezzlement, the latest bout of corruption to hit the city.

Vladivostok, which has 584,000 residents and is home to the Russian Pacific Fleet, was notorious in the 1990s as a haven for corruption, violent crime and government incompetence.

As President Vladimir V. Putin has reined in Russia's regions and tightened federal control, however, the city has lost some of its lawless character.

The prosecutor general's office said Leninsky District Court in Vladivostok had approved the prosecutors' motion to strip Mayor Vladimir Nikolayev of his post while an investigation for abuse of office continues.

Prosecutors in the Primorsky region, of which Vladivostok is the administrative center, said they were investigating Mr. Nikolayev after reports that he had given land to individuals for private use even as other applications for building permits were pending, and that he had used city funds to pay for private security guards.

''In this connection, prosecutors of the city of Vladivostok have protested 20 illegal decisions on land allocation,'' the local prosecutors said in a statement.

Irina Nomokonova, of the regional prosecutor's office, said in televised comments that Mr. Nikolayev had also authorized use of $765,000 in city funds to back a car-racing team.

Prosecutors said five related criminal investigations have also been opened, including one involving the deputy mayor.

Mayor Nikolayev, backed by the pro-Kremlin United Russia Party, won office in 2004 after a scandal-plagued campaign in which candidates traded accusations and resorted to underhanded methods to beat their opponents.

His opponent was Viktor G. Cherepkov, who was also accused of corruption and incompetence during his tenure as mayor in the 1990s and who waged epic political battles with the governor of the Primorsky region, Yevgeny I. Nazdratenko.

Mr. Nikolayev was arrested in 1998 and accused of making threats, hooliganism and extortion, but he was amnestied and freed a year later under a decree by the lower house of Parliament.

In Vladivostok's main square, dozens protested the court decision to strip Mr. Nikolayev of his authority. Several carried signs reading ''Hands Off The Mayor'' and ''How Much Does It Cost to Remove Nikolayev?''

At a televised news conference, Mr. Nikolayev denied the allegations and said he would fight any charges against him.

''This is all completely made up,'' he said. ''The evidence contains not one shred of proof, not one bank payment that would be able to show any of this.''

Persistent corruption nationwide has clouded the record of President Putin, who has made fighting corruption a major goal. But the problems have worsened at all levels of government since he came to office in 2000.

The prosecutor general's office also announced a nationwide investigation of the widely loathed traffic police. There have been growing complaints that bribe-taking and extortion by officers are on the rise.

It noted cases in which traffic police officers sold driver's licenses, apparently referring to the common practice of handing out licenses in exchange for bribes to applicants who have not completed the required classes or tests. It also said some officers ''mix entrepreneurial activity with their service.''
URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: JUSTICE DEPARTMENTS (92%); INVESTIGATIONS (91%); CITY GOVERNMENT (90%); EMBEZZLEMENT (90%); CITY LIFE (90%); FRAUD & FINANCIAL CRIME (90%); PROTESTS & DEMONSTRATIONS (87%); CRIMINAL OFFENSES (78%); REGIONAL & LOCAL GOVERNMENTS (78%); LAND USE PLANNING (78%); EXTORTION (77%); SETTLEMENTS & DECISIONS (75%); LAW COURTS & TRIBUNALS (75%); LITIGATION (75%); DECISIONS & RULINGS (75%); VIOLENT CRIME (73%); APPROVALS (73%); AMNESTY (73%); ARRESTS (73%); LEGISLATIVE BODIES (73%); PRESS CONFERENCES (66%); BUILDING PERMITS (53%)
PERSON: VLADIMIR PUTIN (84%) Vladimir (Mayor) Nikolayev; Vladimir V (Pres) Putin
GEOGRAPHIC: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (79%) RUSSIA (95%) Russia; Vladivostok (Russia); Russia
LOAD-DATE: March 1, 2007
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company



1081 of 1258 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
March 1, 2007 Thursday

Late Edition - Final


Paid Notice: Deaths HORTON, JULES
SECTION: Section C; Column 1; Classified; Pg. 14
LENGTH: 130 words
HORTON--Jules founder and former Chairman of Horton Lees Lighting Design died at his home on February 23rd at the age of 87. Jules was born in Warsaw, Poland, came to New York in 1947 after WWII to pursue a Masters at Columbia University in engineering. He was one of the first generation of architectural lighting designers and in 1970 started his own firm. He was greatly admired for his entrepreneurial spirit, love of art, classical music and travel. He inspired many around him including his friends, family and business partners, Stephen Lees and Barbara Horton (his former wife) who both lovingly cared for him until his passing. A private memorial service will be held in May with close friends and professional colleagues to celebrate his achievements and honor his memory.
URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: DEATHS & OBITUARIES (91%); ENTREPRENEURSHIP (86%) Terms not available from NYTimes
ORGANIZATION: COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY (57%)
GEOGRAPHIC: WARSAW, POLAND (71%) NEW YORK, USA (90%) UNITED STATES (90%); POLAND (71%)
LOAD-DATE: March 1, 2007
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
DOCUMENT-TYPE: Paid Death Notice
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company



1082 of 1258 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
March 1, 2007 Thursday

Late Edition - Final


Stephen Hawking Plans Prelude to the Ride of His Life
BYLINE: By DENNIS OVERBYE
SECTION: Section A; Column 1; National Desk; Pg. 15
LENGTH: 964 words
Stephen Hawking, the British cosmologist, Cambridge professor and best-selling author who has spent his career pondering the nature of gravity from a wheelchair, says he intends to get away from it all for a little while.

On April 26, Dr. Hawking, surrounded by a medical entourage, is to take a zero-gravity ride out of Cape Canaveral on a so-called vomit comet, a padded aircraft that flies a roller-coaster trajectory to produce periods of weightlessness. He is getting his lift gratis, from the Zero Gravity Corporation, which has been flying thrill seekers on a special Boeing 727-200 since 2004 at $3,500 a trip.

Peter H. Diamandis, chief executive of Zero G, said that ''the idea of giving the world's expert on gravity the opportunity to experience zero gravity'' was irresistible.

In some ways, this is only a prelude. Dr. Hawking announced on his 65th birthday, in January, that he hoped to take a longer, higher flight in 2009 on a space plane being developed by Richard Branson's company Virgin Galactic, which seeks to take six passengers to an altitude of 70 miles.

Dr. Hawking says he wants to encourage public interest in spaceflight, which he believes is critical to the future of humanity.

''I also want to show,'' he said in an e-mail interview, ''that people need not be limited by physical handicaps as long as they are not disabled in spirit.''

Coming at a time when human spaceflight is at a crossroads, his trip into space is likely to shine a giant light on the burgeoning and hopeful industry of space tourism.

NASA has redesigned the space program around finishing the International Space Station and sending people to the Moon again and then to Mars, much to the unhappiness of many scientists who fear that the growing costs of human flight will squeeze science out of the program.

Some voices, including Martin Rees, Dr. Hawking's old friend and president of the Royal Society, have been saying that space may be explored more economically and faster by private entrepreneurs, who can take risks and weather the occasional disaster without having to worry about a Congressional cancellation of financing.

Last summer, at a news conference in Hong Kong, Dr. Hawking said humanity's ultimate survival depended on colonizing the solar system and beyond.

''Life on Earth,'' he said, ''is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of.''

At an age when many of his contemporaries are thinking about retirement, Dr. Hawking seems determined to add yet another chapter to a tale of already legendary adventurousness and determination, not to mention scientific achievement.

He was only a graduate student at Cambridge University in the 1960s when he was found to have amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, which usually kills its victims in two to five years. He persevered to get his degree and become the world's reigning expert on black holes, the bottomless pits in which gravity has crushed dead stars, space and time out of existence.

Along the way he has married twice, fathered three children (he is now a grandfather), written the best-selling ''A Brief History of Time'' among other books, traveled the world and appeared as a guest on ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and ''The Simpsons.''

Dr. Hawking has been to the White House, the Great Wall of China and Antarctica, met the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders and been lowered into the pit of an underground particle accelerator. Lawrence M. Krauss, a cosmologist from Case Western Reserve University, who once took him down in a submarine, said, ''Stephen is a dreamer and an adventurer who enjoys the opportunities his celebrity brings in a way that happily perhaps compensates, although only minuscule-ly, for his physical affliction.''

The image of him floating through the stars in his wheelchair has become a symbol of humanity's restless curiosity and wonder.

Now it seems that the symbol is about to become the real thing, sans wheelchair.

Dr. Diamandis, a space entrepreneur who is a founder of the $10 million Ansari X Prize, awarded in 2004 for the world's first private spacecraft, on which the Branson craft is based, said he had offered Dr. Hawking a ride after hearing him express enthusiasm for spaceflight.

There followed long discussions between Dr. Hawking's doctors and the company's to make sure that it would be safe. Almost completely paralyzed, and frail after decades in a wheelchair, Dr. Hawking long ago lost the power of speech and communicates with a computerized voice synthesizer that is controlled by his eye movements.

Zero Gravity, founded in 1993 by Dr. Diamandis and Byron K. Lichtenberg, a former astronaut, has flown some 2,500 people, only 1 or 2 percent of whom, Dr. Diamandis said, have become spacesick.

The aircraft has about 35 seats. Once the plane reaches some 24,000 feet, he said, the passengers leave their seats and lie in a large padded open area. As the plane flies its roller-coaster trajectory, they experience repeated swings between feeling heavier than normal, at the dip, and then weightless, at the peak, where they drift gently off the floor in what Dr. Diamandis, who has been on 40 or 50 such flights, described as a ''really a joyous experience, almost Zen-like,'' lasting about half a minute.

Dr. Hawking's flight will probably be even shorter, Dr. Diamandis said, with the pilots consulting with Dr. Hawking and his doctors after each cycle.

In the e-mail interview, Dr. Hawking said, ''I'm not worried about the zero gravity section, but the high-G part will be difficult.''

Asked what his family thought of the adventure, he replied, ''My family say 'Good on you!' ''


URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: ASTROPHYSICS (90%); ASTRONOMY & SPACE (90%); WHEELCHAIRS & MOBILITY AIDS (89%); SPACE EXPLORATION (89%); PLANETS & ASTEROIDS (89%); SPACE & AERONAUTICS AGENCIES (87%); SCIENCE NEWS (86%); INTERVIEWS (78%); DISABLED PERSONS (78%); SPACE INDUSTRY (72%); SPACECRAFT (72%); ENTREPRENEURSHIP (71%); PRESS CONFERENCES (68%); SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY (68%); BIOTECHNOLOGY & GENETIC SCIENCE (64%); SPACE STATIONS (63%); GENETIC ENGINEERING (50%) Space; Weightlessness; Prices (Fares, Fees and Rates); Gravitation and Gravity; Space
COMPANY: BOEING CO (57%)
ORGANIZATION: Zero Gravity Corp; Virgin Galactic
TICKER: BOE (LSE) (57%); BAB (BRU) (57%); BA (NYSE) (57%); 7661 (TSE) (57%)
INDUSTRY: NAICS336414 GUIDED MISSILE & SPACE VEHICLE MANUFACTURING (57%); NAICS336412 AIRCRAFT ENGINE & ENGINE PARTS MANUFACTURING (57%); NAICS336411 AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURING (57%); SIC3761 GUIDED MISSILES & SPACE VEHICLES (57%)
PERSON: RICHARD BRANSON (91%) Dennis Overbye; Stephen (Dr) Hawking; Richard Branson
GEOGRAPHIC: MARS (79%) HONG KONG (73%)
LOAD-DATE: March 1, 2007
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: Photo: In a warm-up for a trip to space, Stephen Hawking is to take a zero-gravity flight on a plane in April. (Photo by Paul Hilton/European Pressphoto Agency)
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company



1083 of 1258 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
February 28, 2007 Wednesday

Late Edition - Final


Music Chief At EMI to Join Sony Venture
BYLINE: By JEFF LEEDS
SECTION: Section C; Column 6; Business/Financial Desk; Pg. 4
LENGTH: 337 words
Martin Bandier, the chairman and co-chief executive of EMI Group's EMI Music Publishing unit, will take the reins of the music-publishing unit at the rival Sony Corporation after his EMI contract expires at the end of next month.

As part of the arrangement, which was announced yesterday, Mr. Bandier is making an unspecified investment in the Sony unit, known as Sony/ATV Music Publishing, where he will become chairman and chief executive. His compensation will be linked to increasing the value of the unit, which controls more than 400,000 copyrights, including songs by Joni Mitchell, Brooks & Dunn and the Beatles. The unit is a venture with the pop star Michael Jackson.

Mr. Bandier's future in the music business has been the subject of much speculation since he announced in October that he would resign from EMI, which he had helped transform into the industry's biggest music publisher, with control of an estimated one million copyrights.

Mr. Bandier held talks with one rival, the Warner Music Group, about taking charge of its publishing division, Warner-Chappell, and also consulted with private investors about various possible ventures.

But Mr. Bandier said he was not interested in starting his own company. ''I'm not about starting from scratch again,'' he said yesterday. ''I'm used to playing on a big stage.''

Mr. Bandier was recruited to the Sony job primarily by Robert S. Wiesenthal, the company's chief financial officer, who has directly overseen Sony/ATV since 2004, when the Japanese electronics giant split off its recorded music division and folded it into a venture with Bertelsmann, the German media conglomerate.

Since then, Mr. Wiesenthal has moved to consolidate Sony's control of the unit, in part by working out a complex arrangement that provides the company with an option to buy half of Mr. Jackson's stake.

Mr. Bandier had been a top executive at EMI since 1989, when he and his business partners sold their music company, SBK Entertainment World, to EMI for $337 million.


URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: MUSIC INDUSTRY (93%); MUSIC PUBLISHING (93%); ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS (78%); EXECUTIVE MOVES (78%); MUSIC (78%); RECORD INDUSTRY (74%); ENTREPRENEURSHIP (74%); POP & ROCK (73%); CELEBRITIES (73%); RECORD PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION (72%); ELECTRONICS (72%); PUBLISHING (93%); RESIGNATIONS (73%); SINGERS & MUSICIANS (73%) Music; Appointments and Executive Changes; Biographical Information; Suspensions, Dismissals and Resignations
COMPANY: SONY CORP (91%); SONY/ATV MUSIC PUBLISHING INC (83%); BERTELSMANN AG (66%); EMI GROUP PLC (58%); EMI MUSIC PUBLISHING ITALIA SA (58%); EMI MUSIC PUBLISHING BELGIUM SA/NV (58%); EMI MUSIC PUBLISHING LTD (58%); EMI MUSIC PUBLISHING SOUTH AFRICA PTY LTD (58%); EMI MUSIC PUBLISHING HOLLAND BV (58%); EMI MUSIC PUBLISHING GERMANY GMBH (58%); EMI MUSIC PUBLISHING SWEDEN AB (58%); EMI MUSIC PUBLISHING MALAYSIA SDN BHD (58%); WARNER MUSIC GROUP CORP (55%); EMI GROUP LTD (92%)
ORGANIZATION: Emi Group Plc; Sony Corp
TICKER: SON (LSE) (91%); SNE (NYSE) (91%); 6758 (TSE) (91%); WMG (NYSE) (55%)
INDUSTRY: NAICS512220 INTEGRATED RECORD PRODUCTION/DISTRIBUTION (93%); NAICS339932 GAME, TOY, AND CHILDREN'S VEHICLE MANUFACTURING (94%); NAICS334310 AUDIO AND VIDEO EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURING (94%); SIC3944 GAMES, TOYS, & CHILDREN'S VEHICLES, EXCEPT DOLLS & BICYCLES (94%); SIC3652 PHONOGRAPH RECORDS & PRERECORDED AUDIO TAPES & DISKS (92%); SIC3651 HOUSEHOLD AUDIO & VIDEO EQUIPMENT (94%); NAICS515120 TELEVISION BROADCASTING (66%); SIC4833 TELEVISION BROADCASTING STATIONS (66%); NAICS339932 GAME, TOY & CHILDREN'S VEHICLE MANUFACTURING (93%); NAICS334310 AUDIO & VIDEO EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURING (93%); NAICS512230 MUSIC PUBLISHERS (83%); SIC2741 MISC. PUBLISHING (83%)
PERSON: MICHAEL JACKSON (56%) Jeff Leeds; Martin Bandier
GEOGRAPHIC: GERMANY (69%)
LOAD-DATE: February 28, 2007
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company



1084 of 1258 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
February 28, 2007 Wednesday

Late Edition - Final


Sohmer Piano Factory Gets Landmark Status
BYLINE: By SEWELL CHAN; Compiled by Lawrence Van Gelder
SECTION: Section E; Column 5; The Arts/Cultural Desk; Arts, Briefly; Pg. 2
LENGTH: 190 words
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously yesterday to designate the Sohmer & Company piano factory as a landmark. Built around 1886, the L-shape structure, dominated by a clock tower, is at the southeast corner of Vernon Boulevard and 31st Avenue, along the East River in Long Island City, Queens. ''As the Bloomberg administration continues to revitalize the East River waterfront, this distinguished landmark will serve as a vivid reminder of the area's industrial past,'' said the commission's chairman, Robert B. Tierney. In 1872 Hugo Sohmer, a German immigrant, founded the company, which specialized in upright pianos. Irving Berlin was a customer. The German Romanesque Revival structure was designed by the architectural firm Berger & Baylies, which was responsible for many buildings in TriBeCa. The window patterns and monumental brick facades made the building a distinctive symbol for Sohmer, which made pianos at the site until 1982, when it was sold. The building was bought by a furniture manufacturer and then by a developer, which plans to convert the structure to residential use. SEWELL CHAN
URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: MUSICAL INSTRUMENT MFG (92%); HISTORIC SITES (90%); ENTREPRENEURSHIP (78%); REAL ESTATE (73%); FURNITURE MFG (73%); ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES (73%); KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS (90%); HISTORIC DISTRICTS & STRUCTURES (78%) Pianos; Historic Buildings and Sites; Sohmer Piano Factory (NYC); Factories and Industrial Plants
PERSON: Sewell Chan
GEOGRAPHIC: NEW YORK, NY, USA (94%) NEW YORK, USA (94%) GERMANY (92%); UNITED STATES (94%) New York City
LOAD-DATE: February 28, 2007
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company



1085 of 1258 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
February 27, 2007 Tuesday

Late Edition - Final


Internet Renegades Go by the Book
BYLINE: By JEREMY W. PETERS
SECTION: Section C; Column 1; Business/Financial Desk; Pg. 3
LENGTH: 833 words
Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis made names for themselves as renegade Internet entrepreneurs by taking conventional tasks like talking on the phone or listening to music and giving consumers an unconventional -- and free -- way to do it.

Sometimes that meant pushing legal boundaries.

But with their latest creation, a Web video venture called Joost, Mr. Friis and Mr. Zennstrom, who were behind the file-sharing service Kazaa and the Internet telephone service Skype, are doing everything by the book. Revenue-sharing agreements have been signed. Licenses have been granted.

''The reason we're doing this is because of our history,'' Mr. Friis said in a telephone interview last week. ''We know how these things work. And above all, we know that we don't want to be in a long, multiyear litigation battle.''

The two men met in the late 1990s at Tele2, a European telecommunications company then emerging as a serious competitor to Sweden's telephone monopoly. They left in 1999 to start their own Internet company.

Soon after, they developed the technology behind Kazaa. The music industry fought Kazaa with the same fury that it fought Napster, another file-sharing service that was forced to become a legitimate pay service after lengthy court battles.

Mr. Friis, a Dane, and Mr. Zennstrom, a Swede, sold Kazaa in 2002, but their legal worries did not end there. Movie studios and recording companies pressed ahead with their lawsuits, and for years neither man set foot in the United States.

In November, Kazaa's new owners settled the last of the lawsuits. In all, they have agreed to pay at least $125 million to the record industry and movie studios.

Today Mr. Friis and Mr. Zennstrom work out of Skype's offices in the Soho neighborhood of London. Though they sold Skype to eBay for $2.6 billion in 2005, they remain active in the company. Mr. Zennstrom is Skype's chief executive. Mr. Friis is the executive vice president for innovation, a job that has allowed him more time to spend developing Joost.

With the Kazaa lawsuits behind him, Mr. Friis's feet are back on American soil. He was in Los Angeles on Friday promoting his latest endeavor.

Joost (pronounced ''juiced'') said last week it had reached what amounts to the mother lode of television programming: agreements to broadcast programs from Viacom networks like MTV, Comedy Central and VH1. While the deal's terms were not disclosed, Viacom and Joost will share advertising revenue.

''We are very happy with the Viacom deal because it spans all their big properties,'' Mr. Friis said. ''It has content from their biggest properties -- MTV, Comedy Central -- that are very good for our demographic.'' (Mr. Zennstrom was on vacation and unavailable to comment, a Joost spokeswoman said.)

The Joost-Viacom partnership gives Viacom a degree of control over its programming that it has been unable to obtain so far from the video-sharing Web site YouTube. Joost must have Viacom's approval to put a program online. In addition, Joost addressed Viacom's concerns about piracy and copyright infringement by designing a platform that Joost says is piracy-proof.

This month, Viacom demanded that YouTube, now owned by Google, remove more than 100,000 clips of its programming because the two companies could not reach an agreement on licensing and revenue sharing. That deprived YouTube of popular Viacom content like clips of ''The Daily Show.'' YouTube responded by replacing some Viacom content with the message ''removed at the request of Viacom International.''

Just because YouTube does not have Viacom programming, however, does not mean it is at a disadvantage, analysts said. Joost ''is not a competitor to YouTube in most ways,'' said Allen Weiner, an analyst at Gartner, a market research company in Stamford, Conn. ''It's a competitor to cable television.''

Joost is meant to replicate the way viewers watch television at home. It streams full-length programs in full-screen format. Users can flip through channels that offer everything from documentary news programs to videos on surfing. Programs can last a few minutes or more than an hour. (Viacom programming is not available now for the test phase, but Joost said it would be online by the time its software is introduced publicly, sometime before this summer.)

The Joost format differs greatly from YouTube's, which allows users to upload to the site snippets of television programs or self-produced content. ''It's not Web video; it's TV,'' Mr. Friis said.

But some analysts said Joost had the potential to change how consumers watch television on the Web. It will have content that is, for now, unavailable elsewhere on the Web.

''Should YouTube worry?'' said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, a consulting firm. ''I think YouTube is a legitimate channel in its own right. At the same time, I think any company that comes out there and lands big distribution deals with large content partners like Viacom is a serious competitor.''



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