I see potential in this. It's almost like walking into a room full of people all watching one TV. There's appeal to that; online video does have the watch-whatever-you-want feature, but a lot of times people just want to turn on a TV channel and watch whatever comes on.
If you really want to make this a startup, you should make it exactly that. Take control over the public rooms, feed them with quality content, and call them channels. Hire moderators to keep the content fresh. Show occasional commercial advertisements. I think the closer you make it to TV, the more willing people will be to sit through advertisements (random idea: sell to advertisers what people say during their advertisements). Voting is an ok feature, but you should limit that to private rooms.
I can see myself going to a "comedy central" channel and just watching whatever it has on, not needing worrying about what to watch next. Knowing that others are watching the same thing is pretty compelling.
My thinking behind this was indeed to somehow bring a TV feel to the web.
But I am actually leaning towards adding even more interactive features to the site. We already have TV. And Youtube and other sites are already moving in the direction of what you describe(eg. Youtube "leanback").
I believe that this is the wrong approach. The web makes it possible for viewers to interact in new ways, and I think that there is a lot of potential here. I believe that the future of TV-like entertainment will be something that is very interactive/social and game-like. People have already suggested that I add to this site points and game like features, which I plan on doing, among many other interative features.
Also, I have even more long-term plans for expanding beyond video, but that is for another comment :)
Yes, "TV internet" and interactive game-like features are two different markets.
I agree that the web provides new possibilities of interaction. But I still think there's a big market for TV-like streaming; a lot of people just want to sit back and watch something they find interesting. And no website on the internet has got it right yet. I can imagine people logging into your website via facebook, and seeing a list of channels that their friends are currently watching.
I'm not saying you shouldn't add any game-like features. I just think they're a distraction from what you already have. After all, content is king when it comes to these sorts of services. I think you should focus on that before game mechanics, since content will be what attracts users the most.
On the other hand, this is just an opinion of some guy on the internet :)
If you really want to make this a startup, you should make it exactly that. Take control over the public rooms, feed them with quality content, and call them channels. Hire moderators to keep the content fresh. Show occasional commercial advertisements. I think the closer you make it to TV, the more willing people will be to sit through advertisements (random idea: sell to advertisers what people say during their advertisements). Voting is an ok feature, but you should limit that to private rooms.
I can see myself going to a "comedy central" channel and just watching whatever it has on, not needing worrying about what to watch next. Knowing that others are watching the same thing is pretty compelling.