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.
