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Business News Digital
BitTorrent Inc closes content platform
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 10 December 2008
BitTorrent Inc, the company founded by the guys who created the BitTorrent file-sharing protocol, have closed down their paid content service, the Torrent Entertainment Network.
While the BitTorrent protocol is best known as the technology that enables faster illegal distribution of unlicensed content over the net, BitTorrent Inc is a legitimate tech firm, and its Entertainment Network was an attempt to utilise its technology for a legitimate paid-for digital content platform.
However, despite some support from film studios and MTV who made content available to the Network, the service has never really taken off and the company says it can no longer afford to subsidise what is a loss leader.
The company’s VP Product Management, Simon Morris, said yesterday: “After a great deal of soul-searching we decided to close down the Torrent Entertainment Network content store”.
“We want to focus on core technology rather than merchandising and given the harsh economic environment, we can’t afford to continue to invest in endeavours that don’t come close to break-even”.
