Channel 9 allows you to distribute Underbelly 2 via Bit Torrent !

Posted Tuesday, February 10, 2009 at 7:50 pm by Jason Cartwright |

In what can only be described as an amazing move, Channel 9 are allowing you to download and distribute Underbelly 2 episodes via Bit Torrent.

The very successful first series is now followed up by a prequel series. Almost 2.6 million Australians tuned in to watch the season premiere, but if you missed it you can actually download it – legally!

It does require you to use their HIRO player (12.8Mb), but it’s probably a small inconvenience to get the content, especially if your a fan of the show. The file is 1.2GB (despite the site listing it as approx. 800Mb) for a double length episode (1hr 23 minutes). As another bonus to the on-demand nature of this, it’s commercial free !

Amazingly below the download details was this statement.

“You can also copy and share each episode or even distribute the files via file-sharing applications, such as Bit Torrent. Each file is available from the date the episode was broadcast on TV and remains active until the end of the series. Note: this series is only available to download in Australia.”

Never before in Australia have we seen this kind of strategy and openness to the digital distribution of content. Channel 9 should be applauded for this effort, let’s hope for more of it in the future.

Update
Despite seeing SE201 last night on TV, I tried the download service. It seems NineMSN, might want to call home to the mothership – Microsoft and ask for some more servers. Multiple times during the download I experienced this message.

The Catch-up TV HIRO Downloading Application.

Available @ Ninemsn. or visit the Official Underbelly 2 site.