Warner Bros, BitTorrent, Ink Deal

Warner Bros has announced a strategic agreement with BitTorrent, a site typically held responsible for helping piracy, to distribute its films and television shows on the Internet. With this announcement, Warner Bros has become the first major studio to provide legal video content via the BitTorrent publishing platform.

The distribution channel will leverage BitTorrent’s revolutionary
“file-swarming” technology, which enables the transfer of massive files from a Web site to a PC with the speed and bandwidth efficiency of peer-assisted transfers. This method of delivery will qualify as the first peer-assisted network in the US that combines guaranteed availability, high-quality video, and rapid download rates. It will provide a platform to offer US consumers legal content on both video-on-demand (VOD) and electronic-sell-through (EST) basis to coincide with the DVD release.

BitTorrent’s technology is said to be elegantly designed for the delivery of large files like TV programs and films. Warner Brothers will use this technology to allow American users to download content ranging from blockbusters such as “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” to old television series such as the original “Dukes of Hazzard” and “Babylon 5″. Initially, the service will feature more than 200 Warner Bros new releases, catalog favorites, and television series.

The download promises to be much faster as compared to conventional downloads, depending on how many individual computers in the network have the file. It is believed that more the number of computers, fas-ter would be the process.

Darcy Antonellis, executive vice president - distribution technology and operations, Warner Bros, said that the launch of a “legal” BitTorrent online video service allows them to extend their reach to places that content would have otherwise not reached legally. Antonellis said that such agreements are not only a better way to reach existing and potential customers, but that they are also an indicator of the critical role distribution technologies will play in the future of entertainment.

Warner Bros also plans to sell permanent copies of television series and films online, that can later be burned onto backup DVDs. However the burned copies can be played only on machines that are used for download and not on standard DVD players.

Kevin Tsujihara, president, Warner Bros Home Entertainment Group, believes that if they are able to convert even 5 to 15 percent of the peer-to-peer users who currently obtain products from illegitimate sources into legitimate buyers, the new distribution channel can then be held as harboring the potential to effect a major impact on the industry.

Although no specific date has been given, the service is expected to start this summer. The pricing for the service has also not been announced but sources reveal that television shows might cost as little as $1 while films might cost around the same amount as DVDs.

Copyright (C) 2006 ITNation India Pvt. Ltd. All Rights Reserved.