Warner Bros. teams with BitTorrent
Warner Bros. has decided to join forces with long-time nemesis BitTorrent, announcing Tuesday that the studio has inked a deal with the file-sharing company, whose software has become a feeding ground for illegal downloading. A large portion of BitTorrent's 65 million users hit up the site to use its peer-to-peer technology to illegally swap media files, while a smaller segment uses its search engine to buy legal copies of videogames and other media. About 10 percent of the searches lead to sales.
Kevin Tsujihara, president of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, told the Los Angeles Times, "The way we're positioning this within Warner Bros. is, let's take the problem and turn it into an opportunity. If we can convert five, 10 or 15 percent of these users into legitimate customers, we think it can have a significant impact."
