BitTorrent has announced that it will launch a live news television network on July 18th during the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Cleveland, Ohio.
The news comes a week after the company announced it had hired a former CNN producer to head up its new BitTorrent News streaming channel. Harrison Bohrman will lead a six-person team, which includes three former Al Jazeera reporters and producers.
BitTorrent is best known as the developer of BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing protocol, but it appears to be trying to cut its ties to illegal file-sharing and piracy as it seeks to reposition itself as a media company.
In May, the company launched BitTorrent Live, a multi-channel video streaming app for Apple TV and later made it available on OS X.
The company said it will follow up with support for more platforms and plans to be the app that will “play” BitTorrent News.
According to a statement from the company, BitTorrent News will be “intended to be an independent voice for news, in real time.”
The network will kick off its media launch with 12 hours of live coverage during each day of the Republican convention, featuring commentary on key developments, analysis from guests, and more, all in real time.
