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The EU is rolling out a P2p video streaming system.

http://www.p2p-next.org/

There are many test sites.
This means that the bandwidth problem for many video distribution companies is resolved, and the variosu codes can thrive.
G

The TV studios need to realize that the internet and bittorrent are not going away. They need to adapt and learn to use these technologies to their advantage.

They should release directly and officially to bittorrent with tastefully inserted ads. If the ads aren't overly obnoxious, people will be more likely to stay with the official, legitimate version and less likely to remove them or grab copies with the ads already removed.

Bittorrent also has the practical advantage of providing ratings with an enormous sample size. Even if the viewer to downloader ratio isn't exactly 1:1, bittorrent tracker stats would still be a good indicator of popularity.

I would suggest replacing the station ID watermark with a static "Sponsored by..." notice that changes at the points when there would otherwise be a commercial break. These would be better than banners because they'd be harder to remove without destroying part of the picture and would be far less annoying and offputting than the animated [unprintable] found in some OTA broadcasts.

If advertisers are unwilling to pay as much for such watermarks tucked away in the corner of the screen, classic-style commercials interspersed at certain intervals, but these would be easier to remove or just fast-forward through. These are more annoying and disruptive if not skipped, but customers (and advertisers) are used to them. DVR and VHS have had fast-forwarding for ages with time-shifted watching. Perhaps torrent streaming could be the answer to this for those who want their shows *right now*, before the download finishes all the way.

Hulu is a step in the right direction, but Flash is annoying, restrictive, and has performance issues for non-Windows users.

A possible solution to this mess would be some sort of live streaming P2P protocol, BitTorrent style. A couple people with access to the stream seed the torrent and thousands of people can watch it from anywhere (many with a bit of a delay I imagine).

I don't know of any such technology that exists in a usable form yet. There are some experiments going on, like SwarmPlayer, but I haven't seen anything actually functional.

http://trial.p2p-next.org/ Streaming P2P is real.

You can now stream over bittorrent. This works by prioritizing earlier segments in the file and combining the bittorrent client with the media player.

See here:

http://trial.p2p-next.org/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/07/27/eztv-allows-bittorrent-streaming/

-molo

Octoshape has offered p2p streaming for a few years: http://www.octoshape.com/

You can now stream over bittorrent. This works by prioritizing earlier segments in the file and combining the bittorrent client with the media player.

See here:

    http://trial.p2p-next.org/
    http://www.ghacks.net/2008/07/27/eztv-allows-bittorrent-streaming/

-molo

The detailed statistics on their page indicate "viewing quality: 99.79% pieces played, 0.21% lost.

It seems that the testers use broadband that can handle the 600 Kbps requirements + this algorithm is holding.

With front-page coverage the next 24h will be a make or break I guess...

And the project's homepage (Flash based):

http://www.p2p-next.org/