TiVo & Amazon Say Wal-Mart's Momma Wears Combat Boots

Excited about affordably-priced movie downloads to your PC? You are living in the past, my friend. That was like, so...  yesterday.

Today's news is that TiVo and Amazon are saying, hey wait a second, we have an announcement of our own:  the two have teamed up for the cumbersomely-named "Amazon Unbox on TiVo," a soon-to-be-launched service feature that will provide TiVo subscribers with the ability to rent and purchase movies and television shows.

Amazon Unbox on TiVo is currently in beta testing among a select group of TiVo subscribers and will be available soon to more than 1.5 million broadband-ready TiVo boxes. The announcement of the pending service today, in advance of a widespread rollout, is probably due to the competitive pressures placed on the two companies by Wal-Mart's announcement yesterday of their long-awaited digital download service.

The Amazon Unbox service, which launched in September of last year, already offers thousands of movies, television shows and other videos from from major studios and networks including CBS, Fox, Lionsgate, Paramount, Universal and Warner. These can be downloaded to PCs and any Windows Media Video-compatible portable device. Soon, in addition to PCs and portable devices, movies and television shows will be available to download directly to your TiVo box for playback on your TV.

Once available, to activate the service, you will need to log on to Amazon.com and follow a few simple steps to establish a link between your broadband-connected TiVo Series 2 (or Series 3) box and your Amazon account.

Once the initial set up is complete, eligible movies or television shows from Amazon Unbox can be downloaded directly to your TiVo box. After the movie has been downloaded, the title will automatically appear in your TiVo "Now Playing" list with all of your other recorded shows.

Television episodes will be $1.99 and most movies will be priced between $9.99 and $14.99; rentals will start at $1.99. All purchased videos will be automatically stored in "Your Media Library" at Amazon.com for future access and download.

Tara Maitra, TiVo's Vice President and Manager of Programming said in a prepared statement:

"The television is and will continue to be the preferred platform for watching video content, and TiVo is leading the charge in offering broadband-delivered content to the living room. By adding Amazon Unbox on TiVo, we are expanding the TiVoCast service to include movies, television shows and other premium content, giving TiVo subscribers access to the full range of video programming a consumer may want."

[Previously: Wal-Mart Loads Movies In Digital Shopping Cart]
[Previously: Man In Tights Rescues Wal-Mart In Digital Fight]
[Previously: Downloading Outside The Box]