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By John Borland, 26 April 2005 14:05

NEWS Netscape pioneers Mike Homer and Marc Andreessen are back on the start-up scene, launching a TiVo-style online network for distributing and viewing public TV, radio and grassroots media.

The free service, called the Open Media Network, is initially aimed at enabling traditional public broadcasters and independent filmmakers to distribute their work on the net. But it will also allow ordinary computer users to publish their files.

Part TiVo, part BitTorrent file swapping, the network puts publishers' content into a peer-to-peer distribution network that could help lower bandwidth costs substantially. The service then creates a TV-like programme directory that potential viewers can use to find and subscribe to automatic downloads of individual shows.

In the process, it also serves as an advertisement for Homer's main company: content distribution service Kontiki, which provides the network's technology.

Homer, who is Kontiki's chairman and also chairman of the Open Media Foundation, which is backing the project, said: "We're trying to create a free consumer service that will allow the viewing of public service content on the internet. Right now there is no easy way for consumers to [publish and view] these things. It has not been a consumer phenomenon; it's been an early adopter phenomenon."

The Open Media Network is one of several tools which have recently emerged with the aim of enabling people to publish or find large files online, while organising content into a familiar TV-like format. Podcasting has allowed radio stations and ordinary people to publish or subscribe to downloadable audio shows for months.

Peer-to-peer activists Downhill Battle recently released software called "BlogTorrent", aimed at helping people to post large files on their blogs or websites, using the BitTorrent technology to help distribute files. A Canadian student has developed a program called Videora that lets people find and subscribe to video content online, including television shows.

Homer's new venture is being launched under the auspices of a non-profit organisation called the Open Media Foundation - which also counts Andreessen as a member of its board of advisers. The foundation is licensing Kontiki's technology as an ordinary customer, Homer said.

Unlike the anarchic character of most peer-to-peer services, it will be centrally managed using Kontiki's technology, so that any copyright works being distributed without permission can be removed from the system.

It will support the delivery of content wrapped in digital-rights management and add a payment system so publishers can charge for their work. The foundation will take a small cut of transactions to pay for its operations.

For now, the service is free both for publishers and potential viewers. Early content available through the service will include shows from WYNC public radio in New York, Witness.org human rights-focused video alerts and independent films from Cinequest, among others.

A Kontiki rival, Red Swoosh, has also previously offered to let non-commercial web publishers take advantage of its peer-to-peer-based content-delivery services for free.