Bittorrent the future of TV?

WARNING THIS VIDEO IS AN HOUR AND 2 MINUTES LONG

So get a bag of popcorn ready and take a listen to what this guy has to say on his ideas on making Bittorrent become more acceptable to the TV/Movie industry and how they can bank on it. It seems a little boring at first but he's got some great ideas and does a good analysis on TV industry and how it can adapt to bittorrent by adapting advertising.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7943417698180428255&q=bittorrent&pl=true

Very interesting speech.

Kinda remninds me of me downloading episodes of MagiRanger and Boukenger, and how I've always been thinking that Downloading off the internet will replace Satellite TV. BitTorrent will let you see TV from around the world, without censorship and other gubbins..

Still, BitTorrent has some of it's problems. Like having to rely on Seeds.

Rising Sun Ranger said:

Still, BitTorrent has some of it's problems. Like having to rely on Seeds.

Click to expand...

Relying on a seed in bittorrent is not a problem, the only difference between bt and direct download is it makes the people downloading give something back. So, basically your problem with bt boils down to bt forces you to have to contribute something back to others wanting the file?

Well I wouldn't limit it to Bittorrent but rather to the whole of P2P applications.

I just see one problem though: with satellite TV, you can watch as much as you want, as long as you pay the subscription fee. With p2p you can download as much as you want but maybe people are capped at a maximum, meaning the more you DL, the more you'll have to pay to your provider.

kyo:
The guy restricts it to BT because it's more of a controlled medium. I doubt TV networks would make P2P networks exclusively for their station/network.

Also the guy talks about distribution for people who don't have broadband, he mentions a concept of distribution DVDs through the mail of the shows instead because not even a third of Austrailia(where he is) has broadband.

Yellow Fever Ranger:

You're just too use to TV-Nihon. Since these will be paid organizations, they would probably have a swarm of dedicated seeders. It's not like these companies can host these torrents without having seeds from their own servers. How would the file get out in the first place? Also the networks could risk losing advertisers if the files aren't properly seeded.

Kyusaku said:

kyo:
The guy restricts it to BT because it's more of a controlled medium. I doubt TV networks would make P2P networks exclusively for their station/network.

Also the guy talks about distribution for people who don't have broadband, he mentions a concept of distribution DVDs through the mail of the shows instead because not even a third of Austrailia(where he is) has broadband.

Click to expand...

Ah OK, I see. They would indeed need for a network in a controlled environment and with p2p you can share anything you want, so I can see your point there.

Actually, this reminds me of another article I once read. We all know Podcasting for radio programs and the article talked about 'TV-casting'. Meaning that TV channels put their programs (including advertising) out for anyone who wants to grab it and then you can watch it anywhere: on your TV (with a multimedia computer), on the road with a notebook or pocket PC or PSP, etc ...

I think the basic idea behind it is the same. The way I read it, you would have to pay a subscription to that particular TV channel. They let you download and install some sort of interface (bittorrent-ish program). All you need to do then is check the TV shows you want to watch and it will automatically download them and notify you when they're available on your HDD for your viewing pleasure.

Since I'll be moving back to Belgium soon, and there are some Japanese TV programs I would like to keep watching, including the news, these kinds of developments are of a particular interest to me.

He never really goes into a pay per download kind of thing. His idea is more paid by the advertisers and cuts out a bunch of middlemen on money flow from advertisers to producers. The money from the advertising would partly fund the service while those advertisers would get to post their logo in the watermark space.(where most channels usually just put their station logo) Since the ad is actually part of the video screen it's almost impossible to remove by fans.

Still, BitTorrent has some of it's problems. Like having to rely on Seeds.

Click to expand...

Yeah, a lot of people don't like BitTorrent because in essence you have to share.

I gave up about 20 minutes in. From the bit I saw, I don't think that BitTorrent makes shows immensly popular... We'll never know though.

But BitTorrent is big, and it's probably only a matter of time before companys get smart and take advantage of it. Personally, I like watching stuff on TV. I'm always on the computer, so it's like, free time to actually sit down on the couch and watch something.

toranoko said:

I gave up about 20 minutes in. From the bit I saw, I don't think that BitTorrent makes shows immensly popular... We'll never know though.

But BitTorrent is big, and it's probably only a matter of time before companys get smart and take advantage of it. Personally, I like watching stuff on TV. I'm always on the computer, so it's like, free time to actually sit down on the couch and watch something.

Click to expand...

It's not about making something popular, it's about reaching a new breed of viewer.

Some companies like ADV are using it to distribute promo packages of some of their new shows. Some people don't mind watching something on the PC, also this system helps for those that don't have the best schedule so they can see their favorite show when needed.

What the guy in the lecture is proposing is getting digital versions of shows available to these new breed of viewers. But also the digital versions will have advertisement watermarks so that the advertisers get their money's worth. Because regular commercials can usually be cut out of video.