With the announcement yesterday that Warner Bros. will soon distribute movies and television programs via BitTorrent, the online file-sharing system for video, how long before the giant studio decides
to circumvent cable and Blockbuster and go directly to its customer base? How long before it begins splitting ad revenues with BitTorrent? Good questions, both asked by Jeff Jarvis, the superblogger
who posts at his influential BuzzMachine site. Once BitTorrent can be adapted to accept advertising, Jarvis thinks, the whole movie/TV distribution model may begin to shift. And when that happens,
"The networks themselves are middlemen. How long will it be before Warner Brothers makes shows to sell (or give away with ads) online direct to the audience, without networks or cable or video stores
or DVD retailers or movie theaters?" Obviously, Jarvis is hoping for this model to pan out; his constant battle cry is, "More media on the Web, more in the hands of the little guy, less control by
Big Old Mean Media."
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