BitTorrent has long focused on helping others distribute content online — but starting next week, BitTorrent plans to start producing content of its own. It's launching an online TV channel called BitTorrent News, which will provide live news coverage of politics and sports.

The channel launches Monday, as the Republican National Convention kicks off in Cleveland. BitTorrent is planning 10 to 12 hours of election coverage throughout the convention, which will continue the following week at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Following the conventions, it sounds like political coverage may be scaled back a bit as the channel adopts a broader focus.

Peer-to-peer TV

BitTorrent News will live inside of BitTorrent Live, a live-streaming platform that's currently only available on the Apple TV, with an OS X launch coming shortly. BitTorrent eventually plans to expand availability to iOS and Android, though it doesn't sound like that'll be happening alongside this launch. Like traditional BitTorrent files, BitTorrent live streams will also use peer-to-peer networking to handle distribution, shifting some demand off of BitTorrent itself and theoretically lowering the cost of production in a big way.

The news team is being led by Harrison Bohrman, who previously worked in TV at Vice and CNN. BitTorrent is also bringing on several former Al Jazeera journalists.