NBC To Offer On-Demand Movies via P2P

On the heels of AOL's In2TV, NBC Universal has made a deal with Wurld Media for offer on-demand downloadable movies via peer-to-peer file sharing in early 2006.

NBC Universal has entered into a deal with online commerce and digital delivery firm Wurld Media to make selected movies available for digital download via protected peer-to-peer (P2P) Peer Impact network beginning in early 2006.

The move comes just days after America Online and Warner Bros. announced In2TV, a service providing access to older episodic television via a private P2P service.

Pricing for movie downloads hasn’t yet been set, but NBC Universal says online offerings will include all titles available on its existing video-on-demand and pay-per-view services, which would include recent releases as well as up to 100 older titles from the Universal movie library. The deal with Wurld Media does not currently include NBC television series, but does include special TV-derived pay-per-view programming. Users will be able to view the material for 24 hours once they begin playback on their computers; once downloaded, the material will be stored on the user’s computer for 30 days to act as a resource in the Peer Impact network, potentially hastening downloads for other nearby Peer Impact customers