NBC Universal has announced its forthcoming NBC Direct video download service will be driven by a managed peer-to-peer solution from Pando. NBC Direct will offer free (but DRM-protected) high-resolution downloads of programming from NBC’s prime-time lineup. The service, launched last September and currently in beta, should launch later in the first quarter of 2008.
"After a comprehensive search and intensive due diligence of available solutions, we believe we have selected the ideal partner in Pando Networks to optimize the delivery of our full-length TV programming over the Internet," said NBC.com general manager and VP of digital development Steve Andrade.
Pando uses peer-to-peer technology to assist in the download of sizable media downloads; the company’s centralized server infrastructure coordinates download and bandwidth utilization between peers in the system, combined with seamless HTTP and P2P "blending" algorithms and "politeness" features that prevent the system from interfering with consumers’ normal use of their machines.
NBC is promising NBC Direct will offer free DVD-quality downloads of leading shows; however, those shows will be protected with watermarks, hash matching, and digital fingerprinting technology to ensure they’re not redistributed or misappropriated. Shows are currently distributed using Windows Media DRM and contain embedded advertising; shows also expire after one week. Users can subscribe to shows and have them automatically download as soon as new episodes are available.
NBC has positioned NBC Direct as its own in-house answer to iTunes (which NBC famously abandoned last year) and Amazon Unbox, in that the company can potentially set its own pricing and define its own programming bundles. NBC is also participating in Hulu with 20th Century Fox; the company has not yet clarified how NBC Direct and Hulu fit together.
