February 7, 2007

Amazon Unbox to Offer Downloads Directly to your TiVo

It seems that the choices to download movies just keeps growing with recent announcements from Netflix and Walmart. While these services are great, we're really jazzed about the announcement that Amazon and TiVo are testing a service that allows you to buy and download movies to your TiVo. According to PCMag.com:

Amazon.com Inc. and TiVo Inc. will begin testing on Wednesday a service that lets users watch videos rented or bought over the Internet directly on televisions, as part of a trend to link personal computers and TVs.

The article continues:

The service will now let TiVo subscribers rent or buy films and TV shows from studios and networks including CBS, News Corp.'s Fox Entertainment Group, General Electric Co.-controlled Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. Entertainment.
Viewers will need to purchase their video, or pay for the rental, from PCs. TiVo downloads of programming will count against a two-PC limit on Unbox purchases, though Unbox users can still download the programming to two handheld devices. The content cannot be burned onto DVDs.

Customers can buy TV episodes for $1.99, most movies for between $9.99 and $14.99, or rent movies starting at $1.99. Purchased videos are stored in each customer's personal list at Amazon.com for future access.

Amazon and TiVo are testing the new system, which is expected to be available soon, on more than 1.5 million TiVo boxes with high-speed Internet connections.

Man, you just can't get more convenient than that. We'll keep you posted as more details of the service come out.

At PCMag.com

More Details at Amazon