Netflix Watch Instantly coming to TiVo
by Richard Lawler 
posted Oct 30th 2008 at 12:01AM
TIVO AND NETFLIX ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP
TO INSTANTLY STREAM MOVIES AND TV EPISODES
FROM NETFLIX DIRECTLY TO THE TV THROUGH TIVO DVRs
TO INSTANTLY STREAM MOVIES AND TV EPISODES
FROM NETFLIX DIRECTLY TO THE TV THROUGH TIVO DVRs
Deal Provides Netflix with New Content Distribution Channel, Solidifies TiVo's Leading Position as One-Box Solution for Simple Navigation and Delivery
Of the Best Entertainment Content to the TV
Of the Best Entertainment Content to the TV
ALVISO, Calif. and LOS GATOS, Calif., October 30, 2008 - TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs) and Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), the world's largest online movie rental service, today announced that they are teaming up to provide Netflix and TiVo® Series3, TiVo HD, and TiVo HD XL subscribers with the ability to have thousands of movies and TV episodes instantly streamed from Netflix directly to their TVs.
The two companies said they are initiating a test of the new capability today in several thousand U.S. households and expect it to be broadly available in early December, in time for the holidays. The ability to instantly watch content from Netflix on the TV via TiVo DVRs will be offered at no additional charge to customers who subscribe to both services.
The agreement provides Netflix with an important new technology partner to instantly stream a growing library of more than 12,000 choices of movies and TV episodes directly from Netflix to the TV. It also solidifies TiVo's leading position for simple navigation and delivery of the best entertainment content to the TV.
"For Netflix and TiVo subscribers, this collaboration offers a fabulously easy way to enhance the enjoyment of watching movies in the comfort of their living rooms," said Reed Hastings, co-founder and CEO of Netflix. "Subscribers to Netflix and TiVo are avid movie watchers and this combination gives them immediate access to all of the great content available through TiVo and the thousands of additional choices available to be streamed instantly from Netflix."
"Joining forces with Netflix creates the ultimate video on demand service and solidifies TiVo's leading position as the one-box solution for aggregating, searching, and delivering the best content available anywhere right to the TV," said Tom Rogers, president and CEO of TiVo Inc. "Adding Netflix to our already vast library of content differentiates TiVo even further from any other offering in the market today."
Integrating the Netflix streaming functionality into the TiVo experience will result in quick and easy access to a growing list of movies and TV episodes that can be watched instantly at Netflix. Movies streamed from Netflix via specified TiVo DVRs is done through a wired or wireless broadband connection and a Netflix Queue-based user interface. Members visit the Netflix Web site to add movies and TV episodes to their individual instant Queues. Those choices will automatically be displayed on subscribers' TVs and available to watch instantly through the TiVo service. With the TiVo remote control, users will be able to browse their instant Queue, make selections right on the TV screen, and also have the ability to read synopses and rate movies. In addition, they will have the option of pausing, fast-forwarding, rewinding and re-starting whenever they wish.
For more information on how to have movies instantly streamed from Netflix via your TiVo DVR visit www.tivo.com/netflix.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
James @ Oct 30th 2008 12:06AM
Hell yeah!!! no more waiting 3-5 days to get netflix mailed to me.
centinall @ Oct 30th 2008 12:54AM
This Netflix's instant watch. This is not their entire selection. You'll only be able to watch instantly on your Tivo, what you're able to now watch instantly through their player, Roku, etc...
Sorry to sound like a fanboi, but damn it, I wish there was at least some talk of it coming to the PS3. I guess Sony doesn't like the idea of you NOT using either their or divx's ondemand service.
Harkonian @ Oct 30th 2008 12:42PM
@centinall You can stream Netflix to your PS3 via PlayOn's Media Server [http://www.themediamall.com/playon]. It does require you to stream it from your computer, but it works well.
Philipp @ Oct 30th 2008 10:53PM
My Netflix DVD only takes 1 day to arrive.
alex @ Oct 30th 2008 12:13AM
Good luck if you have bandwidth caps.
James @ Oct 30th 2008 12:21AM
Yeah im mad at having comcast and their cap is 250gb cant imagine having 50gb from time warner or less from others.
THizzle7XU @ Oct 30th 2008 12:55AM
You won't come close unless you download like three movies every day, maybe more than that. I'm not for the cap, but it's pretty high either way. I've been monitoring my bandwidth just to see how much I could use (I have TWC) and downloading the movies to my machine with vmcNetflix (about 30 are on my HDD) and I didn't even break 100 Gigs in over a month.
Andrew @ Oct 30th 2008 3:34PM
i am so happy i live at a university, i downloaded 26 GBs of Planet Earth last week and i download a gig movie everyday, i push 60-70 gigs a month and I've seen my usage hit 230 before, i couldn't imagine having Time Warner.
sjdurfey @ Oct 30th 2008 12:14AM
when will this feature finally be added to the ps3?? this seems to be the thing the ps3 is supposed to stand for, and that is serve as the media hub of the entire living room!
Arman @ Oct 30th 2008 12:20AM
I'm not sure this is in the best financial interest of PS3. The further shift to downloadable content, the more damage to BluRay sales right?
centinall @ Oct 30th 2008 1:02AM
I don't think it's the threat to BluRay that Sony's worried about. It's the threat to their own ondemand service that's the bigger deal.
donjogrget @ Oct 30th 2008 12:18PM
Well it isn't like the xbox doesn't have to worry about stealing marketplace business, or amazon unbox for the Tivo. I think the companies understand that there are millions of netflix subscribers who don't own one of these devices yet and they will do whatever it takes to get their hardware into a home.
Arman @ Oct 30th 2008 12:20AM
You know, I had my doubts about the coming of downloadable content and it's replacement of physical media (DVD, BluRay) but if something like Netflix can get such a wide distribution across Video Games, DVR's, standalones, and BlueRay players then maybe indeed we are seeing the future.
I have a Netflix account myself and it's decent. There are some quality movies on there, enough to keep you entertained but far from a complete collection. I'm curious to see the new HD line up.
Potential obstacles remain. My "high-speed" internet connection barely pops over 1.5Mbps and video quality is on par with average Divx quality media. I think there are still large swaths of markets that lack adequete high speed internet but maybe that will improve over the next five years.
The next place I live, I'm going to try hard to make sure if has something blazing fast like FiOS.
iEye @ Oct 30th 2008 12:20AM
Jump in de line, rock your body in time (OK, I believe you!)
scooterbaga @ Oct 30th 2008 11:48AM
You bastard!
MR GUESS @ Oct 30th 2008 12:27AM
No PS3 support in the near future. When it was announced at E3 that Netflix would be coming to the 360 they said it would be the only video game console to have it. If I am correct, and please correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the CEO of Netflix sits on Microsoft's board making it even more likely that it won't go to the PS3 and time soon.
THizzle7XU @ Oct 30th 2008 12:58AM
I'm watching them on my PS3 now with PlayOn. It works pretty well using the PS3 interface and the quality is great. It even remembers your place and shows the box art icon along with all the movie info and file size. It's $30 software after the two month trial, but that beats an additional $100-300 for a new box altogether.
Arman @ Oct 31st 2008 6:49AM
You are most certainly correct Mr. Guess.
John Miller @ Oct 30th 2008 12:27AM
Wow, Netflix FTW! The major players know that future is in digital distribution and they have invested large amounts to position themselves for that future, but nobody comes close to the value Netflix offers. Apple still describes Apple TV as a "hobby", not a core business and when you look at paying $6 for a 48 hour rental with Cupertino or $10 a month for Netflix's unlimited service, the choice is obvious. I know because Raptor Jesus told me so.
Adam @ Dec 26th 2008 2:25PM
48 hours?? you must be in England...we only get 24 hours to watch a rental...
happy_penguin @ Oct 30th 2008 9:44PM
Yeah only 24 hours here.
What is that thing, a dim sum? How would you like it up your nose?
:D
John Miller @ Nov 1st 2008 1:28PM
Wow, only 24 hours. Apple TV is even sucky-er than I thought!
George A. Romero @ Oct 30th 2008 12:36AM
Get FIOS and it's done!
No bandwidth limitations like comcast.
Reader @ Oct 30th 2008 12:56AM
A lot of people (me included) only get Comcast in our area at best. Even with Comcast though, unless you're watching 4 movies a day then you'll probably be fine as an average user. Only people that have to worry are the ones that do heavy downloading and watch a movie or two a day, or have a worse ISP than Comcast.
UnnDunn @ Oct 30th 2008 1:24AM
One of the key things not being talked about is this: wherever Netflix goes, Microsoft follows with Windows Media and its DRM platform. Microsoft is quietly setting about taking control of the digital distribution market.
They've been trying for years and years to crack this space, and they're finally on the verge of succeeding.
(x-posted from Engadget HD)
fatdaddy @ Oct 30th 2008 2:14AM
Perhaps, but looking at how Sony and Apple behave, if somebody is going to do it, I'd rather it be MS.
Jason G. @ Oct 30th 2008 1:31AM
I feel like history repeats itself, see Engadget 2004: http://www.engadget.com/2004/09/06/tivo-netflix-together-forever/
Timmay @ Oct 30th 2008 8:02AM
It's like Deja Vu all over again
djstix @ Oct 30th 2008 2:31AM
No HD No Interest. The studios need to give us HD content for rent day and date with blu-ray release. Somehow I dont think they want to do that - hurts physical disk sales (yes I am talking to you Sony).
TopaZ @ Oct 30th 2008 5:08AM
DirecTiVo, Please!
*Crosses Fingers*
JasonH @ Oct 30th 2008 8:26AM
Aargh! I just got my Roku box and placed right on top of my Tivo HD yesterday! You've got to be kidding me!
MrGutts @ Oct 30th 2008 9:01AM
As a the famous Simpson said..
Haa Haa
;-)
mikeg @ Oct 30th 2008 10:12AM
can you say 30 day money back guarantee?
derspiess42 @ Oct 30th 2008 10:14AM
Look at it this way-- you won't be agonizing over the release date for this feature when Tivo keeps moving it. Think of it as an insurance policy. I wouldn't be surprised if Tivo misses the vague December release timeframe for this.
And when you finally get this on your Tivo, you can drop the Roku box on ebay & get some of your money back.
sp991mail-1 @ Oct 30th 2008 9:14AM
This is the greatest announcement ever. I was going to buy a roku or netflix-streaming blu-ray player for christmas. Now I just have to wait for it to drop on my series 3. I love it when my technology comes together!
Rob @ Oct 30th 2008 9:20AM
Sweet. Now, this opens up the possibilities of the Tivo boxes being able to stream from in each other, instead of up/downloading, and other PCs running WHS or WMP.
Fanfoot @ Oct 30th 2008 1:34PM
If you mean watching something as it is still being transferred from the other Tivo, uhhh, they already do that.
Rob @ Oct 30th 2008 1:51PM
No they don't. You have to download the video content from the other unit. You can start playing it right away, but you're not streaming. You're playing whatever it has been downloaded so far. So far, no one of the Series 3 is allowed to stream yet.
Miguel @ Oct 30th 2008 10:39AM
Great! Now I don't have to resort to turning on that loud obnoxious xbox to stream netflix movies.
scooterbaga @ Oct 30th 2008 11:52AM
Great! Now I don't have to resort to buying another awesome versatile xbox to stream netflix in the bedroom.
Mr.Floppy @ Oct 30th 2008 11:06AM
The day the download version will be 1080p, and with the same high bitrate as Blu-Ray, maybe I'll give up on BR discs. Well, not true. I still prefer a good looking packaging.
Downloaded versions are perfect for rentals instead.
msacks @ Oct 30th 2008 12:24PM
I'm hoping all these agreements are somehow going to lead to Netflix having their entire library available for streaming. Right now, the available content is pretty weak. Movies are available one day and gone the next due to licensing limitations with the studios. Almost no new releases, horrible TV show selection, yada, yada, yada. Come on Netflix, you can do better than this.
JakeB @ Oct 30th 2008 1:51PM
YEEESSSSSSSSS!!!
So glad I spent the extra money for Tivo HD. Now I don't have to hope and pray for PS3 Netflix.
Whoo Hoo!!
Josh J. @ Oct 30th 2008 8:25PM
Awesome news! I was just about to buy the Roku box. I'm glad I didn't now.
Andrew @ Oct 30th 2008 3:34PM
wooowww...I thought it was giong to be a while before digital downloads took over hard disk formats, but it seems like Netflix is pushing to get their service in anything with a ethernet jack. I give blu-ray 2 years and by then every blu-ray player (that sells) will have Netflix or some other download service, but Netflix will win. Bye bye Blockbuster. sure hope sony can move a lot of players and licensing fees fast or they be in trouble, there was a rumor that they would go bankrupt if they lost the format war. What if there was no demand for any hard disk format. This could be big trouble for Sony.
NuShrike @ Nov 25th 2008 8:04PM
Maybe the Amazon Unbox deal wasn't working out so well, so it's nice to attach yourself to the #1 DVD rental instead.