Azureus, a global leader in aggregating and distributing long-form, high quality video via the Internet’s most popular media peer-to-peer (P2P) application, today unveils Vuze, the next evolution of quality broadband entertainment.

Available at www.vuze.com, the service enables a robust community to browse and discover premium content from both worldwide media companies and high-quality self-published content. Vuze now offers dramatically enhanced features and premium content from around the world, including the U.S. premiere of the hit BBC television series “Sorted,” which will be offered in HD.

Azureus also announced that it has entered into an agreement with Showtime Networks for distribution of its original programming, including award-winning hit shows Weeds, Dexter and The L Word.

Formerly code-named Zudeo, the site already attracts more than two million unique monthly visitors after only two months in existence. Vuze breaks new ground by offering a powerful tool set of enhanced features and functions that enable content providers to easily publish, showcase, and distribute high resolution, long form content in High Definition or DVD quality over the Internet.

“Vuze recognizes that the next generation online video experience lies within the integration of licensed and self-published content showcased in a theater-like viewing environment,” said Gilles BianRosa, CEO of Azureus. “The millions who make up the Vuze community–publishers, editors and viewers–can share long-form video and download licensed content, and experience it in High Definition on their own computer or plasma screen.”

Additional enhancements to the Vuze open entertainment platform include a completely revamped navigation system and search engine, designed to accommodate the massive influx of content from publishers, large and small, and help viewers quickly find what they want. Vuze provides more options for publishers to syndicate and monetize their content through rental and purchase models. The entire experience, from search and discovery to payment, download and play, has been tightly integrated into the application. Publishers can also distribute their work directly from the application.

Vuze will make premium content available at a very low cost, and offer several popular TV show episodes for free, leveraging Azureus’ unique P2P grid delivery platform. In addition, Vuze will continue to offer a broad range of free content from its community of self-publishers.

For content providers, Vuze serves as an alternative, low-cost distribution and marketing platform to distribute compelling, High Definition content to a fast growing global audience of millions of active users. Both large and small content owners can promote their works to their fan base through comprehensive discovery tools, as well as gauge market interest in specific territories.

Azureus’ current content partners include BBC Worldwide (including BBC HD), Showtime Networks, A&E Networks (including A&E, History Channel, and Biography), Bennett Media Worldwide, G4 TV, National Geographic, Starz Media, more than 20 other media companies and thousands of self-publishers.

About Azureus Inc.

Azureus Inc. is the provider of the most popular P2P application for the transfer of large media files. With more than three years of technology innovation, proven robustness, and more than 140 million downloads of its application, Azureus users connect with one another from more than 100 countries and 40 languages.

Today, Azureus operates a leading global video aggregation and distribution platform driven by the exchange of long-form, High Definition or DVD quality videos, as well as licensed digital content from leading media companies. The company has recently announced content partnerships with Showtime, A&E Networks (including A&E, History, and Biography channels), BBC Worldwide, Bennett Media Worldwide, G4 TV, National Geographic, and Starz Media.

The new commercial-grade platform is supported by powerful peer-sharing technology, enabling its vast global community the ability to browse, share, search and discover unique multimedia entertainment in a high-resolution format. Visit www.vuze.com for more information.