Larry Magid: BitTorrent Debuts Original Content, Adds To TV Network Competition

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - BitTorrent Bundle debuted Tuesday to users interested in another option for original programming content. Television networks have been facing increasing competition; originally from cable channels that were coming up with their own original programming and more recently from steaming services like Netflix.

Now, the new challenge is coming from a service that most people associate with illegal downloads.

Basically, BitTorrent is a very popular peer-to-peer file-sharing network. For instance, if I have a file on my computer that I want to share with the world, it's going to be a much faster process because the download is distributed amongst many people in bits (which is where the name comes from).

One of the differences is there's no expensive server farms to operate like with companies such as Netflix have to operate. The other difference is that it's actually downloaded onto your computer so it's not streamed over the internet. This way you can watch it on an airplane if you don't have internet access.

Admittedly, the process has been associated with piracy, but there are legitimate uses for BitTorrent. These videos are legitimate, produced videos, very Hollywood-like, that are being distributed.

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