The online file-sharing community and its critics are anxiously awaiting the results of an experiment that began on 26 February, as the San Fransisco-based software firm, BitTorrent, made its first foray into legal file sales. Television programs and films are now available from a new service that has won consent from the major US studios, marking a significant shift in BitTorrent’s operations.

Until now, the firm’s software had been regarded as a scourge of the entertainment industry for enabling users to patch together film or episode files from material held on other people’s computers. The popularity of this method spawned countless instances of online piracy and steered millions of dollars away from official revenue streams. BitTorrent’s new paradigm recalls the legitimisation of music-swapping outlet, Napster, in October 2003. The question is, will the firm meet with similar mixed fortunes in the wake of its refreshed image, or set a new standard for others to follow?

BitTorrent president, Ashwin Navin, told the media: ‘The vast majority of our audience just loves digital content. Now we have to program for that audience, and create a better experience for that content, so the audience converts to the service that makes the studios money.’

Navin admits that it will take time to make a new first impression on an audience spoiled with years of instant gratification. A compromise on pricing has been achieved for the early stages of the service. ‘We're really hammering the studios to say, “Go easy on this audience,”’ Navin said. ‘We need to give them a price that feels like a good value relative to what they were getting for free.’

However, fears remain over legally transferred files continuing to be pirated. Les Ottolenghi, chairman and president of Intent Mediaworks, which helps to protect content providers’ material on file-sharing networks, argues that tracking named users could help the studios boost trade: ‘Their biggest concern is that an anonymous person passes it to an anonymous person … Their greatest hope is that someone at home passes it on to someone at home, from one device to the next, and that becomes a value.’

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