BitTorrent Inks Deals With 20 TV Set Makers

Net-connected televisions will let users stream both legal and illegal video content

By Todd Spangler, Multichannel News -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/14/2012 5:50:36 PM

Consumers using Internet-connected TV sets from some 20 manufacturers will soon be able to stream video content -- including both legal and illegal material -- downloaded via embedded BitTorrent software, with the click of a remote.

BitTorrent has reached deals with 20 consumer-electronics manufacturers, according to CEO Eric Klinker. He declined to identify them.

Most of BitTorrent's deals are for TV models that will launch -- as early as this holiday season -- in Europe and Asia, Klinker said.

"You may not see them as much in the U.S.," he said.

That's because many Internet-connected HDTVs marketed in the U.S. already have deals with streaming-video providers such as Netflix, according to Klinker. "We are competing with the Netflixes and Hulus for space on the television," Klinker said.

Click here to read the full story at Multichannel News.