First we had P2P music sharing, then video and film (via BitTorrent) and now we have P2P live TV streaming, according to the Big Picture.
It seems that some clever Chinese engineers have figured it out and now you can watch live TV on your broadband connected PC.
This is bad news for subscription channels, as it means we can all watch their broadcasts for free. And as music and video sharing have proved, these new technologies spread faster than a fast thing. Indeed, BitTorrent is said to now account for 35% of all traffic on the net.
The other victim will undoubtedly be Big Sport. Indeed, the driver in China so far is English Premiership Football – unfortunately only with Chinese commentary so far, but you could always turn the sound off and listen to Radio 5 Live or something.
But it’s going to be difficult to negotiate multi-million dollar exclusive broadcasting rights, when anyone can now easily watch for free from anywhere with a broadband connection.
Like the music industry, TV companies will be slow to wake up to this new threat. But it amazes me that they don’t do something – like at least allow a legal channel to develop quickly. If I want to watch The Simpsons current material in the UK, I either have to wait for two years and take out a subscription to Sky. Or I download it free on BitTorrent. If I want to pay a fair price – like $5 – or even an unfair price, I can’t.
One of the main reasons why Napster took off was because there was no legal alternative at the time. And it looks like the TV companies are going to make exactly the same mistake. Doing the same thing twice and expecting a different result each may not be the definition of madness Einstein claimed. But it’s certainly bloody stupid.
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