BitTorrent inks licensing deal with studios

BitTorrent continues to line up entertainment companies as it prepares to begin selling downloads of feature films, TV shows and other video entertainment.

The San Francisco-based file-sharing company announced Monday that it has signed licensing deals with four independent movie studios that will allow it to sell 1,600 video titles over the Internet.

The deal comes two months after BitTorrent announced a groundbreaking deal with Warner Bros. Entertainment Group. Warner Bros. is the first major entertainment company to embrace BitTorrent’s distribution system.

“This shows that BitTorrent is an aggregator of content outside the major movie studios,” said Ashwin Navin, BitTorrent’s co-founder and president. “We’ll be able to offer consumers a subscription service that will be comprehensive.”

Once distrustful of peer-to-peer technologies, Hollywood studios appear more willing to partner with companies such as BitTorrent and video-sharing site Guba.com, which last month partnered with Warner Bros. to distribute movie titles. BitTorrent, widely used to both legally and illegally swap copies of copyright movies, has been aiming to turn its technology into a tool used for legal services.

Full story: ZDNet