Amazon.com on Wednesday made its video download service available on all broadband-ready TiVo boxes, opening a channel for taking movies and TV shows from the Web to the big screen in people's living rooms.
The move places Amazon's Unbox in front of more than 1.5 million subscribers of TiVo's Series2 or Series3 digital video recorders. Before the launch, content could only be viewed through a PC. Amazon had been testing the download service since February with a small group of TiVo subscribers.
To entice potential customers, Amazon is offering $15 worth of free movie or TV show downloads to TiVo subscribers who register for the new service by April 30. TV shows cost $1.99 an episode, and movies sell for $9.99 to $14.99. Movie rentals are available starting at $1.99, with most costing $2.99 or $3.99.
To activate the service, TiVo subscribers have to register on Amazon.com's Web site to establish a link between their TiVo account and Unbox. In launching the service, Amazon.com and TiVo announced that Sony Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios have agreed to offer movies to subscribers. Other content providers include CBS, Fox Entertainment Group, Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Entertainment.
Making the connection between the Web and the home TV is seen as a potential advertising bonanza. Other companies heading in that direction include Apple and Microsoft. The former is expected to ship in mid-March the Apple TV, a device that would bridge the company's iTunes music and movie download service with the TV. Microsoft, meanwhile, hopes to become a leading distributor of digital content through its broadband-ready Xbox 360 videogame console.
