Blockbuster joining TiVo’s VOD lineup
Posted on March 25, 2009
Filed Under TiVo
Blockbuster’s online movie gallery soon will be playing on TiVo boxes, under a deal the two companies will announce today, the New York Times is reporting.
The struggling home video rental giant plans to sell TiVo boxes via its 4,000 retail stores in the U.S. The service via TiVo begins in the second half of the year, the Times reported.
“We are excited to be teaming with TiVo, the company that created the DVR, to make Blockbuster’s entertainment content readily available to their millions of subscribers,” Jim Keyes, chief executive of Blockbuster, said in a nicely canned statement. “Ultimately, our vision is to work with TiVo so that their subscribers can access movies not only through our On Demand service but also from our stores and through our by-mail service as well.”
TiVo already has a deal with Netflix for its Watch Instantly VOD service. Amazon’s digital movies and TV shows also flow through the TiVo interactive DVRs. In order to rent Blockbuster movies, consumers will need an Internet connection to the TiVo box. The DVR company sells kits that allow for wireless hookups.
Netflix, meanwhile, has cut a deal with Facebook in which subscribers can inflict their movie ratings on their online pals. The subscribers’ ratings appear on their Facebook page and link off to Netflix’s web site via the marketing-driven Facebook Connect. What a terrific idea — for the marketing guys at Netflix. Please tell me I’m missing something here …
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