BitTorrent, Inc. has dealt itself into the online broadcast television space with a new product that combines BitTorrent peer-to-peer (P2P) networking with live streaming television channels.

Called BitTorrent Live, the new service offers a range a live and linear video streaming channels spanning news, sports, music, tech, and youth culture.

The service is powered by the company’s proprietary and patented peer-to-peer live streaming protocol, and delivers a service that allows large audiences to view live video with sub 10-second latency and without the need for an expensive CDN or pre-provisioning.

“Live television is a communal event that is shared by a society,” the company explained in a blog post. “The vast majority of the most watched television in the history of the medium have been live sports, news, and events, simultaneously consumed.”

“Yet, there has been very little innovation around the distribution of live video on the internet. Currently, HTTP Live Streaming (or HLS) is most commonly used for live video streaming. But it is notorious for latency issues, also known as lag …with BitTorrent Live, every viewer is also a broadcaster. This allows the video stream to remain strong and for the broadcast to be as scalable as traditional Over-the-Air TV.”

The initial lineup is free and includes 13 channels:

• AWE: a network devoted to discussing wealth
• Clubbing TV: as the name may suggest, the channel offers electronic music content
• FAST&FUN: extreme sports
• Fightbox: a channel covering all types of fighting including MMA, Boxing, Sumo and other combat sports
• Filmbox Arthouse: a film channel with special presentations devoted to a particular creative movement
• Heroes TV: described as offering what action and adventure fanatics want
• Newsmax: conservative news programming
• NUsicTV: indie music
• OANN: political programming and talk shows
• One World Sports: world sports
• OpenNewsTV: progressive video talk shows
• Pursuit Channel: content geared to hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation
• TWiT: technology channel

Early days

While announced, BitTorrent Live is not yet available to be downloaded, so it’s early days yet as to say whether it works or not.

In theory it does sound solid; BitTorrent did note that additional channels will follow, including subscription-based, ad-supported and Pay Per View premium tiers, so if it works as advertised and continues to increase its content offering, it may well prove to be a popular solution for cord cutters.

The BitTorrent Live app for Apple TV will be made available later this week, with apps for Android, iOS, and OS X expected to follow in June; a Windows version of the app was simply described as “coming later.”

Image credit: BitTorrent