[SGVLUG] Bittorrent Launching News Network

[Hart Larry]

Well, my google news alert for Aljazeera America found this item, other than my 
2 Apple TVs, I hope I can find an actual url for this stream next week! Will see 
many of you tomorrow evening. This story was from Fortune
BitTorrent Launches Live Streaming News Network

      * by
      * [28]Mathew Ingram

      * [29]@FortuneMagazine

    1:01 PM EDT
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    BitTorrent, a streaming-technology company more closely associated with 
file-sharing than journalism, announced on
    Wednesday that [34]it is launching a live-streaming TV news network that the 
company says will be an "informed,
    independent voice on the news."

    The new network will go live on July 18 at the Republican National Convention 
in Cleveland, Ohio. It is being led by
    news director Harrison Bohrman, a former producer with Vice's TV network 
Viceland and before that a writer and producer
    with CNN, who was recently hired by BitTorrent.

    In addition to Bohrman, the company says its team on the ground for the 
political conventions will include several
    former reporters and producers from Al Jazeera America, including former 
chief political correspondent Michael Shure,
    reporter James Reinl, and producer Rita Chan. Al Jazeera America [35]shut 
down earlier this year.

    "Television news has been stagnating for some time," Erik Schwartz, vice 
president of media for BitTorrent, said in a
    statement. "It's having trouble appealing to a generation that grew up 
online. We are using superior data and tools and
    the Silicon Valley ethos of lean startup to build a nimble news organization 
that will learn quickly from user
    behavior."

    [36]Get Data Sheet, Fortune's technology newsletter.

    The company says its convention coverage will include play-by-play commentary 
on all developments and speeches, along
    with guest commentary, and that it will provide 10 to 12 hours of live 
coverage every day, starting with 2 hours of
    live programming in the morning.

    "We are marrying the Internet's principles of open access to information with 
society's need for unfettered--and
    unfiltered--access to news," said Jeremy Johnson, co-CEO of BitTorrent.

    The company, whose main claim to fame is a peer-to-peer file-sharing 
technology that makes it easy to distribute and
    download large files, [37]launched a streaming video service called 
BitTorrent Live in May that is available on the
    [38]Apple TV.

    In addition to the company's news channel, the video service includes 
alternative networks and content providers such
    as Clubbing TV, FightBox, Newsmax TV, Heroes TV, and TWiT. BitTorrent says 
its P2P technology allows it to scale faster
    and distribute content more easily than traditional TV companies.
Hart