TiVo

TiVo and Netflix announced Wednesday that subscribers to both services will be able to instantly stream thousands of movies and TV episodes to their television screens.

The collaboration, for TiVo Series3, TiVo HD, and TiVo HD XL subscribers who also belong to Netflix, is being tested in several thousand U.S. households and is expected to become more broadly available by early December. There will be no extra charge for those subscribers.

'Fabulously Easy Way'

TiVo dropped two big announcements Thursday at CEDIA, the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association trade show that opened Wednesday in Denver, Colo.

First up was TiVo's one-terabyte high-definition DVR box, the HD XL. Next was a deal to bring the TiVo experience to DirecTV subscribers.

Massive Storage for the Masses

TiVo and Amazon expanded their digital partnership Monday. The pioneers in digital video recorders and online retail have teamed up to give TiVo subscribers the ability to purchase products from Amazon.com on TV sets, using the TiVo remote control.

With the new Product Purchase feature, television advertisers will be able to market products sold through Amazon.com on any broadcast or cable network, or via any of TiVo's extensive interactive advertising features, the companies said.

TiVo says it has completed the technology to make YouTube videos available on TV sets connected to its digital video recorder (DVR) boxes. As part of an agreement with YouTube announced in March, TiVo expects to roll out a software upgrade over the next few weeks.

Broadband subscribers with TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD DVRs will have access to the YouTube video universe. Viewers will be able to search by keyword or browse for content under categories such as featured, most recent, favorites or most viewed today.

On the heels of The Netflix Player by Roku announcement and in the face of rumors about Blockbuster preparing to announce its own set-top box for streaming videos, TiVo is inking some deals of its own.

TiVo subscribers will soon be able to download movies from the Walt Disney Studios to broadband-connected TiVo DVRs directly from the TV. Subscribers will also be able to receive recommendations for TV shows from the Chicago Tribune and have them automatically recorded.

Downloading Disney