By Joel Dreyfuss

The old complaint about having 100 TV channels and nothing to watch is being made obsolete by the explosion of video and audio content on the Internet. There may always be something you want to see or hear on the web—the challenge is finding it.

Divvio, a startup based in Menlo Park, California, is offering to connect fans of Internet video and audio with the right content. On Monday, Divvio will launch what it calls a “personal guide to the Internet for video and audio.”

“You don’t want to go from web site to web site to extract what you need,” said Divvio Chairman and CEO Hossein Eslambolchi, the former chief technology officer at AT&T.

Divvio’s web-based application will locate and categorize millions of video and audio items on the Internet according to preferences set by the user. The site will permit detailed searches, allowing users to create “channels” that they can share with friends and suggest selections for the user channels.

Divvio will offer a web-based application with a built-in viewer that can handle the various forms of digital media on the web, from MP3 to QuickTime. Mr. Eslambolchi said his company has developed or licensed technologies from various third parties to do the ferreting and user customizing. He also expects to extend Divvio’s reach to mobile devices and phones.

This could be the right time for Divvio. Internet users download as many as 100 million videos from sites like YouTube each day. Mr. Eslambolchi said there are more than 12,000 Internet radio stations. “They are creating an environment that is more chaotic,” he said, adding that he wants to help users “get the best stuff.”

Need for Recommendations

Mike McGuire, vice president of research in mobile devices and consumer services at Gartner Dataquest, likes the concept of a dynamic TV Guide for the web.

“I think there is a need for anything that can centralize and focus consumers’ ability to set preferences and get recommendations,” said Mr. McGuire, who has not yet seen Divvio’s product. “The question is, is this a business or an ingredient?”

Mr. Eslambolchi, who has raised $2.5 million so far, is working on a first round of funding with venture capitalists. He foresees a number of revenue opportunities for his company. Because Divvio tracks user preference, advertisers should be attracted to its well-defined audience.

He is also using his network of acquaintances from his years at AT&T. He expects to make alliances and license his technology to social networking web sites, device manufacturers, and mobile carriers.

Because Divvio does not store any content on its site and merely points to the location of the item, Mr. Eslambolchi also expects a warm welcome from media companies that have tussled recently with sites like YouTube over copyright issues.

As the complexity and popularity of video and audio content rise on the web, Mr. Eslambolchi is hoping that Divvio is offering a better guide at just the right time.