Blockbuster Integrates OnDemand Service Into TiVo

Written by Sam Baltrusis

Wednesday, March 25. 2009 at 12:35 PM EDT Post a comment

Digg   Del.icio.us   Reddit   Email This

no ratings

• Login to Rate

In a move to better position its online digital-download service against competitors like Netflix Inc. , Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI) today announced that it is teaming up with TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO) to offer its library of digital movie titles on TiVo digital video recorders (DVRs).

Blockbuster is integrating its Blockbuster OnDemand service into several Internet-connected DVRs -- including the TiVo Series2, Series3, TiVo HD, and TiVo HD XL  -- by the second half of 2009.

The video rental company also plans to sell the DVRs at thousands of its stores scattered throughout the U.S., as well as launch an aggressive cross-marketing campaign to boost sales online at blockbuster.com.

The partnership is a step forward for Blockbuster's OnDemand service, a feature implemented when the company integrated its Movielink video-on-demand (VoD) platform into Blockbuster.com last July.

Jim Keyes, Blockbuster chairman and CEO, says the move will provide subscribers unfettered access to movie content. "Our vision is to work with TiVo so that their subscribers can access movies not only through our OnDemand service but also from our stores and through our by-mail service as well," Keyes says in a statement.

The move is designed in part to help Blockbuster compete with Netflix's "Watch Instantly" streaming video service and Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN)'s Video On Demand servce, both of which are also available on broadband-enabled TiVo DVRs.