NBC Universal to offer movies via P2P

The market for purchasing digital video online is heating up. Following Apple's ground-breaking deal to offer ABC television content via iTunes and AOL's deal to distribute Time Warner content online, NBC Universal said it plans to distribute full-length movies through the peer-to-peer file-sharing service Peer Impact. Due in the Spring of 2006, the service will offer 24-hour access to new and archived films for an as yet undecided price, according to the report. The service would offer Universal's movides 30-45 days after they became available on DVD, by which time they would already be available via cable-on-demand services. While the deal will include some NBC television specials, Peer Impact will not distribute primetime television content, leaving some to speculate that NBC may be looking to more mainstream services, such as iTunes.

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