Movie rental behemoth Netflix is finally joining forces with TiVo to allow subscribers to get access to more movies and TV episodes. The partnership has been a long time coming, and will take effect in early December in the U.S.
Digital Journal — The partnership announcement today means TiVo will deliver selections of Netflix’s 12,000 movies and TV shows to owners of TiVo’s latest digital video recorders (DVRs). The content is delivered over high-speed broadband connections and it goes live in December.
Netflix is the largest online DVD rental service, offering flat rate rental-by-mail movies as well as online streaming to customers.
The deal between Netflix and TiVo has been in the works for four years because Netflix couldn’t obtain licensing deals to stream movies and TV shows via the Web. Netflix finally got its video ducks in order almost two years ago, but both companies had partnered with different companies by that time and so a TiVo-Netflix partnership never got past the opening credits.
TiVo executives also said questions about a TiVo-Netflix partnership were the most often asked queries by customers.
TiVo is currently partnered with Amazon, Disney, YouTube and Jaman, a site where people can find, watch and review movies. TiVo has used its partnerships to sell itself as a unique service that is different than the PVRs and DVRs hawked by local cable providers.
So when it comes to the Netflix partnership, TiVo users will get access to the streaming service at no extra charge. The only catch: They have to be a Netflix subscriber who pays at least $8.99 per month for movie rentals.
Netflix is also facing increased competition, and strategic partnerships have given the company a strong foothold in the budding movie download industry. Netflix has partnerships with LG and Samsung who sell Blu-ray players with built-in Netflix support, and Netflix has even partnered with big boys like Microsoft who announced they would stream high-def Netflix movies to gamers via the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live.
Netflix has seen strong growth, and its profits are up 30 per cent despite a weak economy.
And the more streaming services Netflix can offer, the better it is for the company’s bottom line. The company has to cough up $0.84 for every DVD rental sent by mail, so streaming services cut back on overhead.
