BitTorrent announced on Wednesday its live-streaming TV news channel launch. BitTorrent News will be officially launched next week during the Republican National Convention (RNC). The streaming tech company announced an official opening date for its news network.
The event will take place at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on July 18 when BitTorrent News (BTN) will deliver their first broadcast. BitTorrent will count with Harrison Bohrman, former CNN reporter, and Viceland producer, as the channel’s director, as well as a team composed of half a dozen individuals, live on the ground. BitTorrent aims to make a difference of traditional cable experience with the purpose of attracting new audiences and viewers.
“Television news has been stagnating for some time. It’s having trouble appealing to a generation that grew up online. We are using superior data and tools and the Silicon Valley ethos of lean startup to build a nimble news organization that will learn quickly from user behavior,” wrote Erik Schwartz, vice president of media for BitTorrent, in a statement.
Although the company plans to broadcast not only politic matters but also sports, breaking news and other categories, BTN will serve an independent voice with the live streaming of the Republican National Convention.
BTN Upcoming Launch
Last week, BitTorrent unveiled some details about the upcoming launch of its news interface. Apart from the announcement of having Harrison Bohrman as the network’s director, the channel will be live streamed via BitTorrent Live: an app currently available on Apple TV and OSX. Other platforms to broadcast BTN will be added soon.
Every day, BTN will broadcast 10-12 hours of live coverage. The daily newscast will start with two hours of live programming each morning, and it will continue at two p.m. with an hour-wrap-up segment after the final speeches. During its first coverage, BitTorrent News will focus on commentaries on the delegates’ speeches. It seems like BitTorrent News will do the same for the Democratic National Convention, nonetheless.
While 2016 has been the year to offer live video from different platforms, such is the case of Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, and BitTorrent has a surprising presence online in front of social media platforms. It might be such dominance what might help BitTorrent News to take a stand live video streaming.
On debut July 18, news director Harrison Bohrman will be joined by Al Jazeera American chief political correspondent Michael Shure. Freelance English journalist James Reinl and former Fox News worker Rita Chan will also tag along Bohrman. On the list, there’s journalist and documentary filmmaker Alice Anil, writer and comedian Justin Robert Young, and political science professor Doc Stodden.
In May, BitTorrent launched the multi-channel video streaming app, BitTorrent Live, which will be the platform to launch BitTorrent News next week.
BitTorrent News becomes official with hiring of former CNN producer as news director https://t.co/TvJ8P9pNgV pic.twitter.com/WLBxbwu1IQ
— Digital Trends (@DigitalTrends) July 7, 2016
Source: Tech.Co