Have you guys seen this? This is the first I’ve heard of this news, but apparently, the creators of BitTorrent have partnered up with some television news networks to bring you the BitTorrent Entertainment Network. Apparently, Fox, Paramount, Warner, and MGM have contributed a total of 3,000 movies (classic and new) to the endeavor. You can rent the movies for $2.99 or $3.99, depending on the movie. It’s supposed to be a counter to rivals Apple, Amazon, and Walmart, whose movie download services do not support a P2P environment. I can officially say that I have seen everything.
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OK, you guys have got me on this one. The BTEN (boy, I bet that sounds alot like “beaten” to those big media companies) “channel” will also offer free content and other downloads such as music videos, TV shows in an episodic format, and as-yet undisclosed PC games. The Bonus points, however, go to Microsoft, as it has pledged support on one condition: the BTEN must use it’s DRM packaging, something Bram Cohen no doubt dislikes. However, irony aside, the New York Times says that when comparing the services, the BTEN has a much quicker download time than the comparitive services of Walmart and Apple.
News reporting aside, this has all kinds of irony in it. The biggest empowerment of digital piracy this side of Y2K teaming up with major media outlets to bring the next digital wave to consumers does sound weird, but it looks as if Bram and his boys see that some good can come from this. Can they REALLY make clean consumers out of digital pirates? I guess Microsoft isn’t taking chances by throwing their DRM support in there. Still, for the consumers who are legit, throwing unfriendly, potentially choking forms of DRM into the mix could be the death of a good idea. People who see those big three letters are just going to say that BitTorrent has given into the big networks and pirate even harder.
I’m also guessing that some major pirateers will see this as a challenge. After all, why not? What better way to stick it to the contributers to DRM and some of the biggest digital companies around? Cracking the embedded DRM will also provide the pirates to a plethora of content, most of which can be easily obtained over the Internet or through your cable company/satellite company’s Video-On-Demand service, if yours has one. Chances are, the protection on such services is also much more thoroughly planned and implemented than this, and it’s on the TV already. If the BTEN is to survive, it’s going to have to be compatible with MCPCs and large entertainment centers, otherwise, it won’t survive the move from the PC to the TV. After all, a majority of the people who would utilize this service will either be choked by the DRM or won’t have the want to use this when they have the TV and NetFlix or other services already established. Time will tell, but this one I’m not so sure about.
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