Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group will be distributing movies and television programs via an agreement with BitTorrent Inc., marking the first time a major studio has embraced open peer-to-peer technology. The groundbreaking deal also indicates how far BitTorrent has come from its roots as the once-favorite home of online pirates.

Kevin Tsujihara, president of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, said the content will include movies and television programs for video-on-demand as well as sell-through day-and-date with their DVD release.

"BitTorrent has made the leap in creating a legal partnership that respects the value of the intellectual property," Tsujihara said. "This has provided us with a next-generation platform for the distribution of our films and TV programs."

Using this P2P platform is far less expensive for the content owners because the connected web of users share the bandwidth costs among themselves in a proprietary architecture BitTorrent calls file swarming.

BitTorrent president and co-founder Ashwin Navin said recent technological developments have eliminated most of its negative aspects by adding highly sophisticated filtering to block illegal content and a network of servers to ensure speedy and reliable delivery.

Navin said this method of delivery is the first peer-assisted network in the U.S. that combines guaranteed availability, high-quality video and rapid download rates. He expects to sign deals with other content owners soon, Navin added.

Tsujihara said the agreement became possible after BitTorrent took significant steps to block infringing content. "We have to create a legitimate service that meets consumer expectations or else they're going to get it elsewhere," Tsujihara said. "BitTorrent has shown us that they have very good filtering technology. But nothing's perfect, and we know that."

The service is scheduled to launch in the summer with an initial slate that includes "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride" and "North Country," as well as such library titles as "The Matrix," "Dog Day Afternoon," "Natural Born Killers" and "National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation." TV programming will include "Babylon 5" and "The Dukes of Hazzard."

More than 100 million people have BitTorrent software on their computers, many of whom spend several hours a day using it, Navin said. He expected that a significant number of them will be willing to pay for content because they still will be getting the convenience and a wide selection of immediately available entertainment.

"The challenge is going to be converting users who have been getting content for free," Tsujihara said. "That's a battle we're going to have to face with BitTorrent."

Tsujihara said Warner Bros. is helping physical product retailers transition to the digital world. "Consumers are not going to stop going to Wal-Mart or Best Buy or Target to buy DVDs. There's going to be a vibrant physical market, but we have to work with our partners and the transition they have to face. If you work backwards from the consumer and what they want, it's obvious what we have to do."

BitTorrent has been selling video game downloads for more than a year. Navin said hundreds of titles are available, most commonly on a free trial basis before purchase; nearly 10% of those downloads result in a paid transaction, he said.

Warner Bros. already distributes via In2Movies, a German-language P2P network selling Warners films and TV shows in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. That service uses the closed and centralized GNAB download platform developed by Arvato Mobile, a subsidiary of German media giant Bertelsmann. Similar closed or authorized P2P networks such as Altnet and PeerImpact operate in the U.S.