Suhit Gupta
11-29-2006, 05:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/technology/29bitt.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin' target='_blank'>http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/technology/29bitt.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The decade-old DVD moved two small steps closer yesterday to technology’s endangered-species list. Wal-Mart, the country’s largest seller of movies, announced that next year it will begin testing a video download service on its Web site. Wal-Mart did not reveal its partners, but media executives involved in the deal said that all the major studios are either on board or in active talks with the retailer, and that Hewlett-Packard is providing the technology for the download site. In another sign that the race to put video content online is accelerating, the Internet firm BitTorrent, once a pariah for enabling vast unauthorized video file-sharing, plans to announce today that it has struck distribution deals with eight media partners, including 20th Century Fox, Paramount and MTV Networks. Beginning in February, the companies will begin selling TV shows and movies through BitTorrent’s Web site, bittorrent.com. It is a strange juxtaposition: BitTorrent, with 35 employees, and the company whose dominance in video sales is so threatened by online file trading, 1.8-million-employee Wal-Mart."</i><br /><br />I can totally see this taking off and am a little surprised this hasn't been introduced sooner. This is really the first step towards eliminating DVDs completely. I am a little surprised though that there isn't a download-only option. I guess Walmart is using this to boost their DVD sales.