Jake Coyle of the Associated Press got readers’ attention today with his article on the future of web video, specifically regarding new web sites that aim to make watching web videos much like watching TV.

That means improving the quality of web videos to make unpixelated full-screen viewing a standard practice, as well as incorporating a TV-like interface that would more easily facilitate “channel surfing” between web videos.

Just check out this screen shot of a sample page from Joost, one of several sites aiming to bridge the web- and television-viewing experiences.

So how does this all work, you ask? Unlike YouTube-like video sharing sites, Joost (and other sites like it) would require users to download and install their application just like any other kind of software. When you launch the application, “It then fills your screen with an on-demand-style choice of videos arranged in near broadcast-quality channels,” writes Coyle.

Sounds easy (and interesting) enough.

But should we actually look at these new services as potential YouTube killers, or rather as YouTube alternatives? We won’t have to wait too long to find out: According to Coyle, Joost will open to the public “before the end of the year,” and similar websites have planned launches within a year from now.

In the end, all this makes me wonder: What ever happened to WebTV?