CBS Promotes BitTorrent Downloads

Written by Ernesto on June 19, 2007

CBS links to .torrent files from several BitTorrent sites on the homepage of their reality show “Pirate Master“. Very useful if you missed the latest episode, but illegal in most countries since downloading the show is considered to be copyright infringement.

The image on the right is shown on the bottom right of the “Pirate Master” (what’s in a name) homepage. It is supposed to list news from blogs and other web-resources that write about the show. However, it also shows links to .torrent files on sites like Mininova, ShareTV, bitDig, and even private BitTorrent trackers like Torrentleech.

It is not very likely that CBS is linking to the .torrent files on purpose, they probably use a RSS feed aggregator that includes these BitTorrent sites.

On the other hand, a few months ago CBS’s chief research officer David Poltrack expressed his sympathy for BitTorrent when a CBS poll showed that people who download TV shows actually watch more TV. In a response to the poll Poltrack (what’s in a name) said that online distribution services like YouTube and BitTorrent are friends, not foes.

At the time Poltrack said that he doesn’t believe in paid services. Instead, he sees a future for free TV on the Internet, supported via ad-supported business models. In a panel discussion at the Future of Television Forum Poltrack said that “if [consumers] are going to steal it, give it to them anyway. But also make it easier to access and present it better than YouTube or BitTorrent or anywhere else.”

What better way to present it than to link to the .torrent files on the homepage of the TV-show?

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Saved in: Copyright Issues, Hot Off The Press, Humor, P2P and Filesharing

Previously: HTTP Traffic Overtakes P2P, Courtesy of YouTube

Next: O.J Simpson’s ‘Murder Confession’ Leaked to BitTorrent

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5 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)

1 Jun 19, 2007 at 19:28 by duffyblue

It’s funny, but to bad the link doesn’t even work, and they even linked to this article right underneath the torrent file! i wonder if CBS got permission from the torrent site, or the uploader? who wants to bet neither?

2 Jun 19, 2007 at 20:09 by Ernesto

[quote comment="118826"]It’s funny, but to bad the link doesn’t even work, and they even linked to this article right underneath the torrent file![/quote]

There were two .torrent files in the list, but this article pushed the other one out.

Anyway, if you want to be on the Pirate Master site, write a blog post and use “Pirate Master” as a tag.

3 Jun 20, 2007 at 00:28 by Jasper van Weerd

great news!

4 Jun 21, 2007 at 06:43 by MrCoolio

No longer any .torrents on there. They probably but a filter on them. But i did find something funny. Under the title of “Thursday Thirteen # 13″, they reference to it in the blog is… “Pirate Master (yeah it sucks, but I’m hooked)” Not the best for CBS. =)

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