BBC has announced that hundreds of episodes of its popular programs will for the first time, be made available on a file sharing network.

According to BBC, the move is the fall-out of a deal between its commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, and the Java-based BitTorrent client technological firm, Azureus.

Earlier this month, Azureus launched a video sharing site similar to YouTube, codenamed 'Zudeo'. The site enables users upload and view content. Azureus maintains that unlike most video sharing sites, 'Zudeo' offers high definition videos. Besides, users need to download a program to access and upload content.

Up until now, most BBC titles found on peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks have been illegal copies. With the new deal, users of 'Zudeo' will be able to download legally, high-quality versions of popular BBC programs.

To prevent these programs from being traded illegally on the Internet, the titles will be protected by digital rights management (DRM) software.

The move, according to BBC officials, is part of a company drive to reach the largest possible audience.

As per Azureus sources, the entire experience will be very different from that offered by traditional file-sharing networks.

In case of the latest, users will be able to link to programs from blogs, social networks, and fan sites.

However, pricing for the BBC content on 'Zudeo' has not yet been revealed.