BBC Worldworld wide has made a deal with the well technology firm Azureus, well known for its BitTorrent client to make hundreds of episodes of BBC programmes legally available on a file-sharing network. Up until now, BBC programming distributed by P2P consisted of illegally distributed copies. The aim of this new service is to reach the largest audience possible for BBC programming.
Azureus recently launched a video sharing site Zudeo where users can upload and view content in high definition. BBC programming made available through the deal will be high quality versions of the programming shown on TV, including Red Dwarf, Dr. Who and so on.
However, unlike the illegally distributed content, these titles will be protected by the infamous DRM to prevent consumers attempting to redistribute the BBC content they download and content can only be downloaded through the Zudeo client. It will also be possible to rate and comment on programmes as well as link to programmes from blogs, social networks and so on.
So far, no pricing information has been revealed for BBC content on Zudeo and it is not clear yet if consumers will be able to play back content on portable media players, transfer to one or more other PCs or if content can be written to DVD.
From what I can see, this will potentially be a good service if the pricing is kept low enough and content can be downloaded quickly. However, as some users like to watch their downloaded programming on a portable player (such as a PDA, video iPod, etc.) or on an MPEG4 capable DVD player, the DRM may force these consumers to stick with their current methods of downloading content. Like the issues with even unlimited subscription based music download sites, some may think "Why would you pay only to get tightly restricted versions of that shared out for free?"
Thanks to heystoopid and GristyMcFisty for letting us know about this news.
