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Norwegian Broadcasting Sets Up Its Own Tracker
eirikso writes with an interesting story from Norway; the state broadcaster there has decided to put up some of its content on BitTorrent. "The tracker is based on the same OpenTracker software that the Pirate Bay has been using for the last couple of years. By using BitTorrent we can reach our audience with full quality, unencrypted media files. Experience from our early tests show that if we're the best provider of our own content we also gain control of it."
of common sense:
"We have provided all the Norwegian subtitle files and if people want to fansub any of the episodes we're more than happy to let you do that. Please let us know in the comments and we'll link to your translations."
Three cheers for the Norvegians !!!
If you want control of your content you need to lock it down in a vault and never show it to anyone. We gave up control of our content the day we started broadcasting. For years our most popular content have been available on BitTorrent and on sites like YouTube anyway. DRM doesnâ(TM)t work. The only way to control your content is to be the best provider of it. If people want it on YouTube then you should publish it on YouTube or in a system that give the same experience. If people want it on BitTorrent then you should provide that. If you do it right people will come to your official publish point and you'll end up with more control.
Have a look at http://nrkbeta.no/
They are using MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio.
For their (our... it's the state that owns NRK) definition of control is defined on the website http://nrkbeta.no/the-nrkbeta-doctrine/ I think you will find that they have left "the old ways" and actually understand what the new reality is about.
RSS feed of their torrents: http://nl.nrk.no/torrent/deringenskulletru/deringenskulletru.rss
It certainly seems to be available for anybody who's interested.
Now that i'm throttled ( comcast user here ), what is in it for me to share my bandwidth for their benefit?
you don't have to upload. though it will make your download faster.
Canada
After all, I am strangely colored.
Right now, people can get unencrypted, DRM-free, commercial-free files, which (will always) work anywhere, any time, for free.
It's already ad-free, it's tax-funded. IIRC the mandate they're operating under prohibits them from including ads (although they've found a loophole, so some of sports broadcasts are preceeded by "this programme is presented by "). All in all by doing this, they're providing a better service for me, the tax-payer.
Finland. Our national broadcasting company (YLE) doesn't use BitTorrent but that is just a minor issue. All the shows shown on YLE will be online (for free, no DRM and no country restrictions) the day after they are shown on TV.
It's not actually funded with tax-payer money, but each household have to pay a licence fee if they are in possession of a TV. So yes, there is in fact a 'check box' if you want to contribute to NRK or not.
And by the way, the content has been available free of charge on their website for years, the only new thing here is that now they will also offer bittorrent as an alternative.
All the shows shown on YLE will be online (for free, no DRM and no country restrictions) the day after they are shown on TV.
Not quite everything shown: only their own productions, not foreign stuff they have to buy rights for.
They might want to, but as of a few weeks ago they cannot demand license-money from TVs not capable of receiving signals. Finally!