Six years after BitTorrent Incorporated"s chief executive Bram Cohen created the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file-sharing technology, the company plans to start helping media companies stream videos over the Internet. While the BitTorrent software has been notorious as a tool for piracy, Cohen said he spent three years working to find ways to commercialize the technology.
In February, the privately held company opened an online video store at www.bittorrent.com to sell videos licensed from Hollywood studios. Now it is offering that distribution technology to other companies via a service dubbed BitTorrent DNA. Its first customer, Brightcove, will use it to distribute streaming video programs over the Internet. Brightcove currently distributes video programs over the Internet for companies including CBS Corporation, News Corporation"s Fox Entertainment Group, Viacom Incorporated"s MTV Networks and New York Times Company.
In addition to streaming video, BitTorrent DNA can also distribute video and software downloads. BitTorrent President Ashwin Navin noted that most companies lose money because they spend over 20 cents an hour to stream video over the Internet and can"t make that money back in advertising revenue. BitTorrent DNA will help customers push the cost of streaming video to less than 20 cents per hour, he said.