P2P

Back in October we noted that Time Warner-owned Warner Bros. was still hopeful of reclaiming some lost ground in the broadband-rich-but-piracy-ridden Korean movie market by releasing films on demand two weeks before their DVD release, and this despite Sony, Paramount, Universal, Buena Vista and 20th Century Fox having shuttered domestic operations due to lagging sales.

Goes to the point that P2P is not a business model in itself, and then of course bad management will even make it worse: BitTorrent, the San Francisco-based commercial company that has been trying to develop an online video service and company around the open source P2P delivery technology, has been in deep trouble for a while now, and the issues came to fore this week, as CEO and President of the company have left.

Babelgum's chief operating officer Michael O'Callaghan is to leave the P2P online video platform, we have learned and confirmed with the company - just the latest senior-level switch this year. O'Callaghan is based in Dublin in his native Ireland, where the company is headquartered for tax reasons.

Content delivery network Akamai, looking to build up its "data insight business," has bought ad targeter acerno for $95 million in cash. The deal is expected to close this quarter and is subject to certain closing adjustments. The purchase of acerno comes as Cambridge, Mass.-based Akamai (NSDQ: AKAM) is attempting to branch out from its primary CDN business.

Radiohead's pioneering pay-what-you-like In Rainbows album was bought 3 million times and sold more physical CD copies than the band's last two records despite being available online for free for almost three months.

Everyone, by now, is familiar with Radiohead's no-label, direct-to-fan experiment last year. But a growing number of operators is playing with different interpretations of a thesis that's been around as long as the internet - that the label nowadays is an anachronism, and that bands can finance and release music for themselves…

More activity in the CDN market: Abacast, the streaming media delivery firm, has bought out a smaller P2P-based CDN Tukati, for an undisclosed sum. The two companies had been partnering for a while… combined they will offer streaming; on demand video, game, and software distribution; progressive video delivery; and push delivery.

Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) has announced its new policy on broadband access management, something it was required to do by FCC within 30 days of August 20. The formal plan details how it plans to manage its broadband network, and rather than targeting applications like P2P, it will slow down traffic for heaviest users instead at peak times.

BitTorrent, the P2P-based content distributor, has raised a $17 million third round from past backers DCM and Accel Partners, as well as DAG Ventures according to peHUB, citing a regulatory filing. It's now raised a total of $46.4 million. The company isn't the same as the popular mode of illegal file sharing, but the company has been challenged to shake that reputation among media firms it hopes to sign up as clients of its service.

This just got a lot uglier, but expected: Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) is now appealing the Federal Communications Commission to block the regulatory agency's decision to cite and sanction the company for blocking certain Internet traffic. Comcast challenged the FCC decision Thursday in the U.S. District Court of Appeals in Washington DC.