As more and more people illegally download movies and other content from the web, industry majors are scrambling to find a way to give them what they want without having to press charges. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group today announced a deal with BitTorrent Inc. to make hundreds of feature films and television shows available for electronic sell through in the U.S. Initial offerings will include such films as Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and TV shows like Babylon 5 and The Dukes of Hazzard. Other titles will be made available day-and-date with their DVD releases.
The pact makes Warner Bros. the first major studio to provide video content via the BitTorrent publishing platform, available at BitTorrent.com. The company’s file-swarming” technology enables the transfer of massive files from a website to a PC with the speed and bandwidth efficiency of peer-assisted transfers.
‘BitTorrent has made the leap in creating a legal partnership that respects the value of the intellectual property,’ says Kevin Tsujihara, president of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group. ‘This has provided us with a next-generation platform for the distribution of our films and TV programs.”
‘Entering into agreements such as this to distribute our content is not only a better way to reach existing and new customers, but a reflection of the critical role distribution technologies play in the future of the entertainment industry,” adds Darcy Antonellis, exec VP of distribution technology and operations for Warner Bros. Technical Operations.
BitTorrent previously signed an agreement with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to prevent film piracy and promote innovation in online digital distribution of content. The service is scheduled to launch this summer with more than 200 Warner Bros. productions. In addition to recent releases such as North Country and Rumor Has It, users will be able to download library titles such as The Matrix, Dog Day Afternoon, Natural Born Killers and National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation.
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