With the partnership between Time Warner (TWX) and BitTorrent, we see the extraordinary change that has happened to Hollywood. Are they finally finding out that they can't sue their way to innovation and profitability? BitTorrent for those of you who may not know, is an online company that has become synonymous with trading pirated movies online. A video Napster.
The deal they made allows BitTorrent to sell and distribute Warner's movie and television shows via the Internet. The terms of the deal haven't been revealed.
While the studios watched their CD sales shrink and the movie market coming next, they had to do something besides blame the piracy itself. They have a lot more problems than that.
The comments have been that just possibly the studios are wakening up and realizing that there is a much more basic problem that needs to be dealt with. In recognition of their problems, finally, they are beginning to make some moves to salvage themselves.
I personally thing that the studios have suddenly realized that they are fighting a losing battle and have wasted a lot of time battling the wrong enemy. They won't publically admit this of course, but their actions speak louder than words.
With the partnership with BitTorrent they now have a platform already there that is ready to distribute high definition content when it is made available. Also because of the wrong moves they've made, they failed to create the equivalent of a video iTunes - a place where people can download whatever they want irrelevant who is licensing it.
With the fact that BitTorrent still has the ability to be used for illegal downloading and others looking to use them, this is a signal that the studios are finally admitting they've lost. They could have done it with a lot less loss of money if they would've responded a long time ago.
Now at least they can receive some revenue from their products instead of filing endless lawsuits.
In an industry slow to adapt Internet-friendly distribution systems this is a win both for Warner and BitTorrent. Again, it's just amazing that they waited this long to act.
Comment Preview