Brussels - The European Union has invested $20.5 million in a research project that is exploring the use of peer-to-peer technology for Internet television delivery across Europe. The P2P-Next project is using an open-source BitTorrent client called Tribler, which partners including the BBC and European Broadcasting Union plan to use to stream live TV.

"This cooperation with both the British and German public broadcasters indicates that P2P is here to stay. We welcome the decision of the European Union to award this proposal around P2P. This means that Europe can expand its roughly two year lead in this important area," Tribler's Johan Pouwelse told TorrentFreak.

Total funding for the project is $28 million, with the remaining $7.5 million coming from some of the 21 partners on the project. Aside from the broadcasters, other partners in P2P-Next include Lancaster University, Markenfilm, Pioneer Digital Design Centre Limited and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.

"This ambitious project is investigating new ways to deliver video using the P2P paradigm making possible to everybody to distribute videos from anywhere to any number of people anywhere in the world," said Luis Rodríguez-Roselló, head of the EU's networked media unit.

"I ensure that the project we are launching today will help European stakeholders to be at the frontline in pioneering the looming media revolution enabled by the Internet."

Related Links:
http://www.tribler.org/P2P-Next/19Million-for-P2P

http://snipurl.com/203o2 (Ars Technica)

http://snipurl.com/203op (TorrentFreak)

http://snipurl.com/203nq (Hollywood Reporter)

http://www.p2p-next.org