• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, May 29, 2007

New video networks seem to be debuting online almost weekly now, and the latest contender is Jalipo. The broadband network features professional, high-quality video with a pay-as-you-go model similar to prepaid mobile plans. Consumers use currency called J:Credits to pay on a per-minute basis for content from BBC World to independent films to live events. Ten dollars buys 1,000 credits, or about 13 minutes of Bloomberg TV. Rates vary depending on the program and speed of the stream.

Jalipo bills itself as the first online video marketplace, where publishers set the price of their wares, control distribution and monetize “every second watched.” Unlike its ad-supported rivals, Jalipo is betting consumers will pay for quality content, especially for programming they can’t easily find elsewhere. “Good content costs a lot of money to make; the producers aren’t just doing this for the fun of it,” notes CEO Alex Taylor, in a recent blog post on the Jalipo site.

Jalipo to date has signed on partners like Bloomberg TV, France 24, and Al Jazeera. Aside from iTunes, however, few ventures have succeeded in blending e-commerce and entertainment. Jalipo may end up pleasing media companies in the role of anti-YouTube, but not necessarily consumers.