[A2k] Hollywood to use P2P technology as a distribution tool

Tue May 9 15:41:02 2006

 From BNA 's Internet Law News (ILN) compiled by Prof. Michael Geist

WARNER STRIKES DEAL WITH BITTORRENT FOR VIDEO DISTRIBUTION
BitTorrent, the creator of the file-sharing software that for some has
become synonymous with piracy, has struck a landmark distribution deal
with a Hollywood studio. Warner Bros. Entertainment Group has agreed to
use BitTorrent's peer-to-peer system to distribute movies and television
shows, including "Dukes of Hazzard" and "Babylon 5," beginning this summer
http://news.com.com/2100-1026_3-6070004.html

BitTorrent inks studio distribution deal
By Greg Sandoval
Story last modified Tue May 09 06:24:56 PDT 2006

BitTorrent, the creator of the file-sharing software that for some has
become synonymous with piracy, has struck a landmark distribution deal
with a Hollywood studio.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Group has agreed to use BitTorrent's
peer-to-peer system to distribute movies and television shows, including
"Dukes of Hazzard" and "Babylon 5," beginning this summer, the companies
are expected to announce Tuesday. Warner Bros. is the first major
entertainment company to embrace BitTorrent's distribution system, which
has been widely used to illegally swap copies of copyright movies.
The agreement is also believed to be the first Hollywood distribution
deal for any of the file-sharing technology companies, which include
eDonkey or Kazaa. Financial terms were not disclosed.
In the past, San Francisco-based BitTorrent was falsely perceived to be
the video equivalent of Napster, said Ashwin Navin, the company's
president. BitTorrent never maintained a network to help people exchange
copyright material and has gone to lengths to separate the company from
law breakers, he said. A clean record helped win credibility with studio
chiefs, but the company has sold itself in Hollywood mostly on the
strength of its technology, Navin said. Pricing for the content has not
been announced, but Navin said TV shows might sell for as little as $1.
"There is a fascination with BitTorrent on a technical level," Navin
said. That fascination helped him convince studio executives that
"BitTorrent is useful as a distribution technology." Developed in 2001,
BitTorrent's open-source distribution system was designed to help
transfer large files over the Internet.
BitTorrent allows a single file to be broken into small fragments that
are distributed among computers. People then share pieces of the content
with one other.

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Judit Rius Sanjuan
judit.rius at cptech.org
www.cptech.org

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