“By using BitTorrent we can reach our audience with full quality media files. Experience from our early tests show that if we’re the best provider of our own content we also gain control of it.” Eirik Solheim, developer at NRK, shows an attitude you do not really expect from major broadcasting companies. He says they hope to create shows with a creative commons licence in the future, to make their shows more accessible.

“If you want control of your content you need to lock it down in a vault and never show it to anyone. We gave up control of our content the day we started broadcasting. For years our most popular content have been available on BitTorrent and on sites like YouTube anyway. DRM doesn’t work. ”
- Eirik Solheim, developer at the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation

Choosing BitTorrent to distribute their shows is a good move. Because of the nature of BitTorrent technology, it is by far the cheapest and easiest way to distribute relatively large files efficiently. BitTorrent lets users download files from other users, instead of from a centralised server, which means that the distributor will not have to invest in hardware and bandwidth to be able to offer good downloads. The more viewers who download any particular file, the quicker the transfer speed of that file will get for everybody else.

However, Solheim doesn’t think BitTorrent will last for very long. He argues that with faster connections and more server space, a streaming based solution will become the preferred delivery method. “There is no reason to download the files onto your computer, when you can stream the content easy and quickly whenever you want to watch it.”