Audio Video News

What are all those corporate logos doing on the BitTorrent homepage? Isn't this bastion of P2P technology a den of thieves? Apparently Paramount, 20th Century-Fox, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, Comedy Central, MTV, and other movie and TV studios are willing to entertain a different idea.

Fact is, BitTorrent has been doing business with Hollywood for awhile now. The first approach was more than a year ago. Six months ago BT began offering rentals of movies, TV shows, and music videos from its own site. Soon it will go further, licensing its technology to other companies and sites. The first licensee of BitTorrent DNA software is Brightcove, which distributes programming for CBS, Fox, MTV, and The New York Times.

The attraction of BitTorrent DNA is that it harnesses the power of home PCs and broadband connections, allowing users to simultaneously upload and download bits of material to one another without going through a central server. A completed download comes from many sources, many of which may not yet be complete in themselves. Of course, the technology is still used to violate copyrights--but harnessing it for legitimate purposes is a smart move for the entertainment industry.

Most video streaming sites spend more than 20 cents an hour to stream video over the net, BitTorrent president Ashwin Navin told Reuters. But that often exceeds what they can earn in ad revenue. By cutting the cost of video streaming, BitTorrent may transform the business model associated with it.