The problem with running a Web video startup is that if a show gets too popular, the bandwidth costs of streaming it to people’s browsers or sending them big files through iTunes eats up a lot of cash. That’s why peer-to-peer systems like BitTorrent or Joost are so appealing. They shift the bandwidth costs to the audience.
Now Pando, a personal P2P file-sharing startup, is partnering with Web video sites like Blip.tv to offset their bandwidth costs for video downloads. Whenever you subscribe to a Web video series through Apple’s iTunes (AAPL), it is the video creators themselves or sites like Blip.tv who have to actually pay for the bandwidth needed to transfer those fat video files. With Pando’s P2P file-sharing software, which has been installed more than five million times (and is actively used by about two million of those people in the last month), those bandwidth costs go away. Pando CEO Robert Levitan tells me:
We are trying to disrupt the entire downloadable media space. People should be able to download higher quality videos, like HD, and easily share them. With iTunes, the quality of many of the podcasts is poor and it is very difficult to share.
If you’ve downloaded the Pando P2P software, you can already use it to subscribe to many Web videoblogs, such as Rocketboom, Jetset, Galacticast, and Wallstrip. Soon every show on Blip.tv will have a “subscribe with Pando” option, including Starring with Amanda Congdon and Ze Frank Show. (Note: Rocketboom is not associated with Blip.tv , but all the others are).
Looking for more stuff to watch or download?
TVU, Free P2P Cable TV
3 Quick Ways to Watch Movies for FREE!
3 quick ways to watch TV shows for FREE
BitTorrent torrent sites & search engines
Azureus – A Beginner’s Guide to BitTorrent Downloading
uTorrent – A Beginner’s guide to BitTorrent downloading
SOULXTC: “walkin’ the streets of P2P”
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