BitTorrent to launch peer-to-peer streaming news network
And the company is building out a small newsroom to support it.
BitTorrent is looking to expand its live streaming offerings by launching a TV news network in time for the November election, Variety reports today. The news network would be an expansion of the OTT News app the company released for Apple TV, iOS and Android earlier this year, as well as its BitTorrent Live offerings. According to Variety, the San Francisco-based peer-to-peer company's in-house network will be called "BitTorrent News" and the company is currently hiring a news director and a team of journalists to round out the offering.
Whereas OTT News was "a test case" for live streaming, BitTorrent News looks to be a legitimate grassroots competitor to cable news, albeit without the nonstop, 24/7 coverage of CNN or MSNBC. According to the job listing, the network will stay focused on breaking news events like "political campaigns, sporting events, tech and cultural events." Overall, BitTorrent has been shifting focus from file sharing into a media company, starting with music and movie releases. Earlier this month, Variety also reported BitTorrent would be spinning off its enterprise file sharing software Sync into a separate company dubbed Resilio, led by BitTorrent's own former CEO Eric Klinker.
