With TiVo, Amazon closes the PC-TV gap

Subscribers to Unbox can now download to TiVo set-top boxes

By Jennifer Netherby -- Video Business, 2/7/2007

FEB. 7 | Amazon.com’s movie download service Unbox has connected the PC to the TV.

On Wednesday, the online retailer and TiVo will begin beta testing “Amazon Unbox on TiVo,” a soon-to-be-launched service that will allow subscribers of both to transfer Unbox movie and TV show downloads to their TiVo set-top boxes for viewing on the TV.

TiVo subscribers who are chosen for the beta test will be able to log onto Amazon and rent or buy downloads that they can have sent to their TiVo. Unbox movies and TV shows from CBS, Fox Entertainment Group, Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Bros. will be available initially for their same download price.

Sony is the only studio whose movies are available on Unbox for download but not transferable to the TiVo, though Amazon and TiVo are in talks with the studio.

The companies didn’t say when they plan to officially roll out the service to the more than 1.5 million TiVo subscribers with broadband-enabled boxes.

Allowing consumers to easily watch movies downloaded from their PC on their TV set has been one of the major obstacles to expanding the movie download business.

This month, Apple is expected to begin shipping its Apple TV box, which will allow customers to stream iTunes movie, TV show and music downloads from their computer to their TV set.

And last week, the DVD Forum cleared the way for online download companies and studios to begin allowing users to burn movie downloads to DVDs that can play in any set-top DVD player. However, the download-to-burn option isn’t expected to be available to consumers until later this year. Currently, CinemaNow is the only download company that has deals with studios to allow DVD burning for select films.

“This really is the first time you get [downloads] to the TV from the PC in a way that is easy for consumers to use,” said Amazon director of digital media Roy Price.

The TiVo deal is the latest Unbox offering meant to emphasize the flexibility of the service for customers.

“Instead of insisting that whatever you purchase has to be downloaded to the computer you’re using, Unbox downloads to whatever Unbox device registered” that a user chooses, Price said. “Wherever you may be, if you can get to a computer, you can log into Amazon and tell it to download to your TiVo or download to your PC or download to both.”

Users also can delete copies from their PC or TiVo or portable device, and if they purchased a permanent copy, they still have access to a backup of the movie on their Amazon Digital Locker.

Downloads to the TiVo will still take time to download—roughly one hour for a movie on a fast cable connection or 22 minutes for a TV show. However, TiVo VP and general manager of programming Tara Maitra said TiVo users are used to choosing programs to view before they air on TV and viewing them when they are available.

“The way people use TiVo is they know that on their TiVo box there’s always something there they want to watch,” Maitra said. “This continues to expand on that promise of TiVo.”

Maitra wouldn’t specifically address whether TiVo is still in talks with Netflix. The two companies confirmed in 2004 that they were working on a potential video-on-demand partnership but have yet to announce anything further or say that the deal is off.

“Combined with the TiVo experience, this really is the winning solution,” Maitra said of the Amazon deal.

The Amazon/TiVo announcement comes one day after DVD sales leader Wal-Mart launched a movie download service.