The European Union (EU) has invested £10m into a research project that's designed to explore the use of P2P (Peer-2-Peer) File Sharing technology for Internet television (IPTV) delivery.

Dubbed 'P2P-Next', the research will centre on using an open-source BitTorrent client called Tribler as the foundation for its technology. The study also hopes to show that P2P itself isn't just used illegally and has many more legitimate functions too.

Somehow we doubt that the UKs largest budget priced broadband ISPs would welcome this move with open arms, especially given some of the negative reactions to the BBC's P2P based iPlayer service.

The BBC, European Broadcasting Union, Lancaster University, Markenfilm, Pioneer Digital Design Centre Limited and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland will all take part - http://www.p2p-next.org .