Amazon downloads move to TiVo

Service rolls out to more than 1.5 million subscribers of DVR

By Jennifer Netherby -- Video Business, 3/7/2007

MARCH 7 | Amazon and TiVo today rolled out to all subscribers Amazon Unbox on TiVo, one of the first offerings that will allow people to easily watch Internet movie downloads on the TV. (Read our review.)

The two companies partnered last month with a beta launch. Amazon Unbox on TiVo will allow the more than 1.5 million TiVo subscribers with broadband access to transfer downloads from Amazon Unbox to their DVRs for TV viewing.

Movies from every major studio except Disney will be available on the service, the same studios that offer films through Unbox online. Sony Pictures and MGM, which weren’t part of the beta test, also will make their films available through the new offering. Plus, TV downloads from the studios and CBS will be available on the service.

TiVo and Amazon are offering $15 in free downloads to those who sign up for the service by April 30.

“Customers now have even more flexibility and convenience when it comes to enjoying Amazon Unbox,” Amazon director of digital video Roy Price said in a statement announcing the service.

Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference in San Francisco Tuesday (webcast), Amazon chief financial officer Tom Szkutak said Unbox has some of the highest repeat users among Amazon’s categories.

TiVo subscribers can activate the new service by registering on Amazon.com at www.amazon.com/unbox/tivo.

Movies bought through Amazon are downloaded directly to the purchaser’s TiVo player and will appear on the TiVo’s Now Playing menu.

TV episodes sell for $1.99 a piece, and movies are priced between $9.99 and $14.99, the same as on Amazon Unbox online.

Movies are stored in the customer’s “Your Media Library” on Amazon.com for future access.