The announced launch of BitTorrent’s new commercial service, BitTorrent Entertainment Network, where users will be able to buy TV episodes and rent movies, has gone as planned, and the service is now open.
I suspect that’s just about the only thing that will go as planned, since the name “BitTorrent” has been synonymous with free movie downloads in the last couple of years, and you only need to remember Napster to know that commercial download services born from free P2P systems don’t go over too well.
BEN might have had the chance if the service were actually any good, however it will only use the BitTorrent protocol as the way to distribute data, and you will only be able to buy TV-shows (at $1.99 per episode), while the movies will be DRM-laden files which will auto-destroy in 24 hours after you first watch them. This protection will, of course, be circumvented soon by some 13 year old kid, but I doubt anyone will care about BEN enough to take notice. In a time when even major Hollywood production houses are considering dropping DRM, starting a service with severe DRM restrictions on the content is, at the very least, a gamble. The only good thing BEN has got going for them is the fact that they’re planning to offer free ad-supported TV shows in the future.
The prices for the movies will be $3.99 for new releases and $2.99 for older ones, but, as Matthew Ingram correctly predicts, the problem isn’t the price - the problem is DRM. Ironically, the name “BitTorrent” will make the situation worse. It’s easier to shove DRM down the throats of non-tech-savvy people than to the people who know what BitTorrent means and who have been using it to download DRM-free stuff for years.
Well, at least the design of the website is nice.
I think you have to appreciate this as a front for keeping these traditional media companies at bay so the rest of us can do business as usual.
@baron: well, any service that agrees to DRM-infected content is supporting the record/movie industry in their attempt to convince the world that imposing restrictions on content you legally purchased is a good thing. So, while tech-savvy users will always find a way to circumvent dumb restrictions, I can’t say that services that use DRM are helpful. Except maybe when it goes out of business which should be further proof that noone wants DRM-ed files.