BitTorrent Live, a virtual MVPD that leans on the BitTorrent’s P2P platform, is shutting down in the “coming weeks,” Variety reported this week.

BitTorrent was not immediately available for comment, but an industry source confirmed that the team tied to the BitTorrent Live product has been let go. Variety said most of the 10-person team was expected to leave the company by the end of the week, and that the decision to fold the service stems from BitTorrent's inability to  raise money to spin Live into a separate company.

BitTorrent Live was introduced in May 2016 in concert with the INTX show in Boston.  The NCTA announced last fall that it was sunsetting the annual confab.

RELATED: NCTA 'Sunsetting' INTX

At last check, BitTorrent Live offers 15 free channels, including CGTN, Clubbing TV, FilmBox Arthouse, QVC, and Nasa TV UHD and Eleven Sports, and sells a couple of add-on news-focused packages that sell for $5 per month and $2 per month, respectively. It also offers Deutsche Welle (DW) for $5 per month.

BitTorrent Live arrived on the scene amid a swarm of virtual MVPDs that now includes Sling TV, DirecTV Now, YouTube TV, and fuboTV, a group that will soon be joined by Hulu.

BitTorrent Live was different in that it uses P2P, a technology that the company insisted would help it deliver live OTT services with broadcast-level  scale and sidestep some of the issues that have troubled other live streaming services.

BitTorrent Live added support for Android devices in January, complementing access on iOS devices, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV boxes, and browsers for Macs.

BitTorrent Live, a new virtual MVPD, said it has launched an app for OS X (for Apple laptops and desktops), expanding on its support for the Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV platforms.

BitTorrent Live, an OTT service delivered on BitTorrent’s peer-to-peer platform, was introduced in May at the INTX show in Boston, and is starting off as a free service (users need to create a free  BitTorrent account) featuring programing partners such as AWE, One World Sports, and Newsmax.

BitTorrent Live has since added BitTorrent News, a “channel” that went live on July 18, timed with the start of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. 

BitTorrent has named Harrison Bohrman news director for BitTorrent News, a live-streaming service being developed by the file-sharing and video platform company.

Bohrman will be responsible for building the yet-to-be launched TV news service's first editorial team and will also head up its production and development.

Most recently a senior creatve development producer at Viceland, the new Vice Media-A+E Networks joint venture aimed at millennials, Bohrman was previously a writer/producer at CNN.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

Diving deeper into video services, BitTorrent has renamed its Bundle video platform BitTorrent Now alongside a plan to add apps for mobile devices and connected TV platforms.

The BitTorrent Now app launched on Google Play/Android today, with launches on iOS smartphones and tablets and Apple TV expected to follow soon.  

The additional platforms, the company has also added an option for publishers for ad-supported streaming. That option is launching as a pilot program prior to a wider rollout for all publishers.

In a move that could enhance its competitive positioning with content makers that use platforms such as YouTube and Vessel, BitTorrent Now is also adding a revenue share model for ad-based streaming that gives 70% of the take to the publisher. The option for transactional, direct pay downloads remains at 90/10t.

BitTorrent, which launched the original Bundle platform in 2013, also announced several pilot partners and content for the rechristened platform, including digital artist/rapper Yung Jake; Nashville folk singer Caleb Groh; Brooklyn-based alternative band Caveman; pop singer/songwriter Kerli; stand-up comedy series The Specials; and We Are San Marino, a documentary series about  “the worst team in FIFA.”  App partners in the film and video category include A24 (studio behind films such as Ex Machina and The Witch); Super Deluxe, a digital video network owned by Turner Broadcasting; Oscilloscope Labs, an indie film distribution company founded by the Adam Yauch, the late founding member of the Beastie Boys; and independent filmmaker Adam Bhala Lough, among others.

The reformed BitTorrent Now follows the recent debut of a BitTorrent Live, a “virtual” MVPD that is initially free and features live linear fare from programing partners such as AWE (formerly called WealthTV), One World Sports, Fightbox, Arthouse, Pursuit Channel, and Newsmax.

More detail about BitTorrent Now and the company’s video strategies will be featured in the June 27 issue of Next TV, a section that runs each week in Multichannel News and Broadcasting & Cable.

Sunday’s season six premiere of HBO’s Game of Thrones was popular with digital pirates, according to the latest findings from TorrentFreak.

TorrentFreak, a news site focused on file-sharing and privacy and copyright issues, said the premiere episode drew more 1 million downloads in half a day, with about 200,000 BitTorrent users actively sharing copies of the episode at last check.

According to those findings, pirates are improving their taste for purloined video. have shifted their focus from standard definition (480p) video to high-definition formats, including 780p and 1080p.

“A few years ago roughly 10% downloaded HD copies, which are larger in size, but today this is getting close to 50%,” the site noted in a blog post, noting that the episode drew heaviest interest from pirates in Australia (12.5%), India (9.7%), United States (8.5%) and the United Kingdom (6.9%).

Though the season six premiere was popular among that group, it was not the most-pirated TV show – that dubious distinction still belongs to the season five finale of GoT, which saw 1.5 million downloads in a span of eight hours, according to  TorrentFreak.

TorrentFreak also points out that its figures account only for BitTorrent downloads, adding that “it’s possible that other pirate sources such as streaming and direct download sites did see an increase and that HBO’s free preview to non-subs might have also had an effect on reducing piracy.

On the legitimate side of the digital video ledger, T-Mobile said it saw traffic to HBO Go and HBO Now double. Both apps also happen to support Binge On, T-Mobile’s optional mobile streaming platform that delivers video in 480p and zero-rates the traffic coming in via its partner apps/services.

BitTorrent said it has tapped Jeremy Johnson and Robert Delamar as co-CEOs as the company looks to accelerate its focus on on-demand and live streaming platforms and services. 

The company confirmed that former CEO Eric Klinker is staying with BitTorrent “in a technical role.”

BitTorrent said it made the change up top as it looks to further commercialize and accelerate the reach of its distribution platform for creators and other partners. It now claims that 200 million fans use its BitTorrent Bundle system for on demand music and video.

BitTorrent has plans for a spring launch of its first applicaton for live video streaming based on the company’s “Live” protocol.  BitTorrent has already been expanding its video strategy via its BitTorrent Bundle, which sells shows from programming partners, and an  expansion into original content.

In his new role, Johnson will head up technology and the go-to-market strategy and executive management of BitTorrent’s product development, operations and media teams. He’s late of Silver Spring, Sony Online Entertainment, NetVmg, and Excite@Home.

Delamar, a digital content distribution platform specialist, is a co-founder of several digital content services, including urbmob, Totalmovie, and UUX, a hybrid live/linear and VOD platform.

BitTorrent also announced David Chidekel as head of business development and business affairs, responsible for content acquisition and sponsorship deals; Straith Schreder as VP of creative initiatives. Schreder, who joined BitTorrent in 2012, will head up creator-focused initiatives, which include the opening of an office in Los Angeles. 

BitTorrent said its “Live” team has hired Monica Piriz as vice president of programming and acquisition.

Piriz joins BitTorrent Live after serving as VP of content acquisition and strategy at Piksel, an over-the-top/multiscreen video specialist.

BitTorrent also announced that it is demonstrating a coming, “mobile-focused, multi-channel OTT live streaming” based on its proprietary BitTorrent Live protocol at this week’s TV of Tomorrow Show in New York. The company claims that the platform can deliver live video at scale at low latencies without pre-provisioning and sans the need for a traditional content delivery network.

BitTorrent said it’s being testing the technology with a number of unnamed “broadcast partners.” BitTorrnt VP Erik Schwartz leads the company’s Live team.

Of late, BitTorrent has been upping its video game with its BitTorrent Bundle platform to sell shows from programming partners and to underpin its expansion into original content.

BBC Worldwide will use the BitTorrent Bundle platform to sell “selected highlights” from the last ten years of Doctor Who for $12.

The bundle will feature 10 episodes from the 2005-2014 portion of the show’s run, as well as a five-episode “An Introduction to New Who” (with introductions from Peter Capaldi, the actor currently playing the role of the Doctor), and two additional features – Earth Conquest (a TV movie from 2014), and the original script (in PDF) of Rose, the opening episode of the first series of the revived version of the series. The bundle also offers two free streams/downloads --The Decade of Doctor Who, and a preview of the Rose episode.

BitTorrent Bundle is a global platform that uses the company's file-sharing technology to enable content owners to upload their content and offer it as they see fit – for free or for a price.

“This innovative deal with BitTorrent allows us to directly reach a huge number of consumers and engage with fans on a global and fast-growing digital platform,” Julia Kenyon, director of Drama Brands for BBC Worldwide, said in a statement. “Music content has seen tremendous success through BitTorrent Bundle, and this deal is the first of its kind for British TV content.”

“This is an exciting way for fans to celebrate ten years of New Who, and we are honored to welcome the good Doctor to BitTorrent Bundle,” added Matt Mason, BitTorrent’s chief content officer.

Among recent activity, Mance Media has begun to offer trailers and full-length movies in 4K via BitTorrent Bundle.  BitTorrent will also use the platform to underpin its  expansion into original content.

Mance Media, an independent distributor of films and TV shows, said it will sell a handful of films in 4K format via BitTorrent Bundle, a global platform that enables content owners to upload their content and offer it as they see fit.

Mance Media said it will offer trailers and full-length movies in partnership with BitTorrent. Consumers can obtain the 4K trailers for free, and pay between $5 to $6 to unlock the full-length title in 5.1 surround sound as well as a hi-res digital version of the movie’s official movie poster.

Mance Media, which is using HEVC compression for 4K, claims it can deliver a 90-minute movie in 4K and 5.1 in a 3 gigabyte file without sacrificing video quality. From a file-size standpoint, that’s a far cry from BitTorrrent’s initial 4K distribution of Superorganismfrom Mickey Hart, the former Grateful Dead drummer, which was delivered in 2013 as a largely uncompressed 286 Gigabyte torrent. 

The work with BitTorrent Bundle "is groundbreaking in terms of distribution,” Matthew Mancinelli, CEO of Mance Media, said.

Mance Media’s other announced 4K distribution partners include M-GO, Sony, Amazon, and Dish Network, which is will offer content in the new format via the 4K Ultra HD Joey, a device that's slated to become available this summer.

Titles from Mance Media that will be offered in 4K through BitTorrent Bundles include TheToy Soldiers, Dragons: Real Myths And Unreal Creatures, Scarlet’s Witch, and nature documentary Circles Of Life: Iceland In 4K.

“Today marks the first collection of 4K films to be distributed via BitTorrent,” Straith Schreder, director of brand marketing at BitTorrent, said in a statement. “We’re excited to work with Mance to share this ultra HD collection with our global network of fans.”

BitTorrent, which is expanding into original content, said in February that about 200 million users downloaded or streamed a Bundle over the last 18 months.

As millions of movie-lovers prepare to fill out their ballots ahead of Sunday night’s Academy Awards, Irdeto checked in with some fresh data showing that piracy picked up sizably after the films nominated were announced. 

Irdeto, the content protection specialist, monitors such things, and found a 385% increase in piracy worldwide for nominated films when the announcement was made in mid-January. Irdeto said it figured that out by tracking illegal download data from those titles across the U.S. and more than 200 countries using the company’s automated crawlers, which use special software to identify users and files on the BitTorrent network.

While Gone Girl held an early lead, American Sniper surpassed it, with more than 1.38 million downloads during the period tracked -- January 15 through February 14. The report is available here.

Irdeto said about 36% of pirate copies came from retail Blu-ray and DVD discs during that period, while 31% came way of Hollywood screeners.

On that note, Irdeto said the six nominated movies (American Sniper, The Imitation Game, Wild, Selma, Whiplash and Still Alice) not available yet for retail purchase on Blu-Ray, DVD, VOD or legal streaming/download sites saw the highest levels of piracy from screeners. It further estimates that more than $40 million in retail revenue could have been captured if those titles were already available to consumers.

Irdeto cares about this in large part because it provides the kind of security that could support earlier digital distribution windows, something it’s in favor of and believes Hollywood should be as well.

“In the world of internet re-distribution, the window between theatrical release and worldwide market availability may simply be too long, leaving room for pirates to take advantage and offer consumers alternative means of instant gratification,” Rory O’Connor,Irdeto’s VP of services, said in a statement about the company’s findings. “Today’s consumers simply refuse to wait to access these movies through legitimate services.”

During the timeframe monitored by Irdeto, the U.S. led the way in illegal downloads, followed by Russia, Italy, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Canada, India, Australia, Spain, South Korea and the Netherlands.

This heat map (partly shown above and available in full here) offers a more granular view, breaking down by the top three Oscar-nominated movies downloaded on a country-by-country basis.