Today Blockbuster is expected to announce a partnership with TiVo, whereby the former's digital movie library can be ported directly to the televisions of TiVo users.
The service, Blockbuster On-Demand, will be accessible to the 800,000 users with broadband internet connected to their TiVo units.
"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," said CEO Jim Keyes of Blockbuster.
TiVo struck similar deals with YouTube, Amazon and Netflix, an online DVD rental/film-streaming service with which Blockbuster struggles to compete in the digital space.
Netflix avails about 12,000 film and TV programs on the web to most of its subscribers, but most titles are several years old. In contrast, Blockbuster plans to offer a smaller selection — 5,000 to 10,000 titles — digitally at any given time, but the titles will be fresher. Films like "The Dark Knight," for example, can be rented for $3.99, to watch within 24 hours upon payment.
A relationship with Blockbuster is of additional real-world value to TiVo: the company agreed to sell TiVo units at a number of its 4,000 brick-and-mortar locations in the States, in exchange for a retailer's cut.
The pair will work in tandem to promote its liaison in the second half of the year. SVP-Digital Kevin Lewis of Blockbuster said the TiVo deal marks "the first of many" that the firm plans to announce with major consumer electronics firms.
Last week Blockbuster finalized agreements with two major lenders to extend its revolving credit line through 2010 — which will likely precipitate such liaisons. In December 2008, Blockbuster also inked a deal to serve films on mobile devices powered by Microsoft.
Labels: Entertainment, TiVo
