The BitTorrent peer-to-peer system as for warez, right? Not according to Warner Bros. Entertainment Group, which signed a deal to start using BitTorrent this summer to distribute movies and television shows. According to BitTorrent officials, the Warner moviemakers are fascinated with the filesharing technology. The company plans to release movies on BitTorrent the same day those titles are shipped on DVD. Says Kevin Tsujihara, president of the Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group:
"If we can convert 5, 10, 15 percent of the peer-to-peer users that have been obtaining our product from illegitimate sources to becoming legitimate buyers of our product, that has the potential of a huge impact on our industry and our economics."
But we're thinking these movies and TV shows will be so completely wrapped up in DRM it might be a problem unraveling it all once you get them onto your hard drive. The movies and shows will reportedly be available for as little as one dollar, but even at that low cost, it's still going to be hard to compete with free.
BitTorrent inks studio distribution deal [c|net]