BitTorrent launches digital media store

[BGonaSTICK]

If the notorious file-sharing software BitTorrent was once the class bully, a version set to debut today is more like the teacher's pet.

The 45-employee company that calls itself BitTorrent is planning to use its software to launch a download site, called the BitTorrent Entertainment Network, that will distribute more than 5,000 titles from digital movies, TV shows, games and other media.

In the battle for the nascent online video market, BitTorrent could be a competitor that already has a reputation for speedy file distribution. It also has an established user base that the company says numbers 135 million.

That is the kind of muscle that could immediately pit the company against some of the sector's heavyweights such as YouTube, Brightcove and Joost, a new peer-to-peer service started by the founders of Skype and Kazaa. Joost recently partnered with some big entertainment companies including Viacom.

The store's opening marks a triumph for BitTorrent. Despite the software's reputation for helping people illegally share millions of unauthorised video files, the company's managers have convinced studios such as 20th Century Fox, Lions Gate and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios that they come to Hollywood with a laurel branch in their hands.

But the deal did not come cheaply. To sell entertainment companies on the idea that they could profit from the file-sharing system, BitTorrent executives had to make some important concessions, such as wrapping songs and movies on the site in a DRM system.

Among the many challenges the new store faces are proving the technology can bring movies to users faster than the clunky distribution methods now available, and not alienating the millions who have grown accustomed to using BitTorrent to snatch files off the Web with virtually no DRM and at no cost.

"There is always a percentage of people that don't want anything to do with a technology once they perceive it to be a corporate thing," said Zephyr, a 25-year-old who declined to give his last name. He has used BitTorrent for more than five years to download books, music and videos. "There's a large group of people out there that like getting things for free, and they will probably go someplace else for file sharing."

But BitTorrent leaders have laboured long and hard for mainstream acceptance. Last May, the company announced a landmark distribution deal with Warner Bros Entertainment Group. The agreement, one of the first studio deals ever for a file-sharing company, won BitTorrent a measure of respectability and became the foundation for signing similar deals.

Besides, too much shouldn't be made of BitTorrent's use of DRM, said Ashwin Navin, the company's president. This is only the first stage in BitTorrent's evolution, he said, adding that he senses a shift in Hollywood's thinking about DRM.

"Our partners require DRM protection for their titles," Navin said. "They are being cautious with a new distribution model. As the demand goes up, our partners will probably explore DRM-free options."