IP Democracy: Warner Brothers to Harness P2P in Germany

After years of fighting peer-to-peer technology, at least one studio is looking to take advantage of the file-sharing method. According to this piece in today’s Wall Street Journal (part of the Journal’s free features), Warner Brothers will announce today a new online file-sharing service called In2Movies for selling films and TV shows online in Germany.

The service is powered Bertelsmann AG and its subsidiary Arvato and will feature films dubbed into German, including “Batman Begins” and “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” which will sell for about the same price as the DVD versions of the movies. Arvato’s technology is similar to that of the much-reviled BitTorrent, but features security technology to prevent wholesale theft.

While Hollywood has been quiet on the P2P front for a while, this move indicates that the studios are looking to co-opt and even harness this below-the-radar-screen threat.

“Studios can’t just turn their backs and hope ‘P2P’ is going to go away tomorrow,” says Kevin Tsujihara, president, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on January 30, 2006 8:09 AM to IP Democracy