BitTorrent inks deal with Hollywood studio

BitTorrent, the creator of the file-sharing software that for some has become synonymous with piracy, has struck a landmark distribution deal with a Hollywood studio.

Warner Bros. Entertainment Group has agreed to use BitTorrent's peer-to-peer system to distribute films and television shows, including Dukes of Hazzard and Babylon 5, beginning this summer, the companies are expected to announce on Tuesday.

Warner Bros. is the first major entertainment company to embrace BitTorrent's distribution system, which has been widely used to illegally swap copies of copyrighted movies.

The agreement is also believed to be the first Hollywood distribution deal for any of the file-sharing technology firms, which includes eDonkey or Kazaa. Financial terms were not disclosed.

In the past, BitTorrent was falsely perceived to be the video equivalent of Napster, says Ashwin Navin, the company's president. BitTorrent never maintained a network to help users exchange copyrighted material and has gone to lengths to separate the company from law breakers, he says.

A clean record helped win credibility with studio chiefs, but the company has sold itself in Hollywood mostly on the strength of its technology, Navin says. Pricing for the content has not been announced, but Navin said TV shows might sell for as little as $1.

"There is a fascination with BitTorrent on a technical level," Navin said. That fascination has helped him convince studio executives that "BitTorrent is useful as a distribution technology."

Developed in 2001, BitTorrent's open-source distribution system was designed to help transfer large files over the Internet.

BitTorrent allows a single file to be broken up into small fragments which are distributed among computers. Peers then share pieces of the content with each other.