Ethnic television content is coming to a computer near you. People living all over the world now have the chance to view TV shows popular in their homelands, without having to be there. Call it another lucky strike by Joost, still in its beta phase and a venture still in its infancy. Yet it seems to have been capturing remarkable deals left and right, starting with Viacom’s divisions – MTV Networks, BET Networks and Paramount Pictures, and now the dice are rolling again. Joost signed a partnership deal with the Toronto, Canada-based JumpTV on Friday. The partnership between Joost and JumpTV involves sharing of advertising revenues on the JumpTV-branded channels.

The initial JumpTV offering on Joost will feature programming regularly gathered from JumpTV’s digitally rights compliant international television roster. The first JumpTV “channels” on Joost will feature popular Spanish-language series from Colombia, Chile and Peru, in addition to Arabic-language comedy, drama and news programs from some of the leading broadcasters in the Middle East.

Rather than becoming beached whales after the $2.6 billion dollar sale of their company Skype (internet telephony network), founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, who also started Kazaa (peer-to-peer file distribution network), looked in a new direction. Joost recently signed an agreement with Viacom’s divisions – MTV Networks, BET Networks and Paramount Pictures, to provide television and theatrical programming on the Joost platform. According to Joost, the service is powered by a secure, efficient, piracy-proof Internet platform that enables premium interactive video experiences while guaranteeing copyright protection for content owners and creators. Although the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, Joost seemed to be on a roll of lucky strikes.

JumpTV also released a statement saying that it will be adding new programming on a daily or weekly basis, and intends to launch several more channels on Joost in other languages, including but not limited to Romanian, Turkish, Russian and Bengali. The broadband broadcaster currently offers thousands of popular television programs, news, music and sporting events from 270 channels from over 70 countries around the world on a subscription and advertising supported basis.

The initial JumpTV offering on Joost will feature programming regularly gathered from JumpTV’s digitally rights compliant international television roster. The first JumpTV “channels” on Joost will feature popular Spanish-language series from Colombia, Chile and Peru, in addition to Arabic-language comedy, drama and news programs from some of the leading broadcasters in the Middle East.