BitTorrent launching TV, movie downloads

Cory Bergman February 26th, 2007

Coming today, BitTorrent is launching a download site with films from Warner Bros, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Lionsgate along with TV shows such as 24. The idea is to influence 20- and 30-something guys who regularily download illegal torrents to upgrade to paid legal downloads. “We have to program for that audience and create a better experience for that content so the audience converts to the service that makes the studios money,” said Ashwin Navin, president and co-founder of BitTorrent. Like most sites, TV show downloads are $1.99 a pop, and movie rentals will run $2.99-3.99 for 24 hours. The BitTorrent advantage? Faster downloads due to its P2P nature. BitTorrent said movies will download in half the time and TV shows in one-third the time as its competitors. Downloaded content is protected by Windows DRM, and as such, will only play in Windows Media players. But the question remains: will the new service convince people who have downloaded free torrents for years to suddenly pay for the same thing?

Adds Rocker in comments: “Once you give them a legitimate way to do it, you start to go after those who insist on stealing it. But it’s less about the tiny percentage of people who’ve been stealing for years, than it is about the much larger numbers of ‘normal’ consumers who will be embracing these technologies in the years ahead, and will be willing to pay a fair price.”