Rumor: Netflix & TiVo Partnering to Provide Movie Downloads

Newsweek is running a rumor about a partnership between Netflix & TiVo to provide movie downloads. At first, I was surprised that Newsweek is running a rumor as a story, but they claimed:

Spokespeople at the companies refused to comment on what they called rumor. But an insider who was close to the negotiations says the straightforward partnership is all but a done deal, pending only the approval of the TiVo board this week: "You don't need a lot of creativity to figure out the details," the insider said.

This makes a lot of sense. TiVo boxes are under $100 after rebates now. TiVo acquired the secretive company Strangeberry earlier this year, and their technology will enable TiVo boxes to get content from the Internet. Mike Ramsay, TiVo's CEO, sits on the Netflix board, and we also have Reed Hasting's famous quote about the company name:

In an interview with NEWSWEEK last year, CEO Reed Hastings predicted that by the end of the decade, Netflix will deliver most of its rentals over the Net, supplanting its distribution centers and trademark red envelopes. "We named the company Netflix, we didn't name it DVD by Mail," he said.

There is a possible problem: The cable companies might block the large movie downloads since they offer a competing service:

Cable customers could prefer the larger Netflix selection and download movies to their TiVo boxes using cable's own pipes. (The downloads will likely take several hours.) Unlike the phone companies, which are regulated as "common carriers" and forbidden from discriminating against customers or content, cable firms don't have to accommodate their rivals' traffic on their networks. But if cable closes the door to the Netflix downloads, customers could migrate to the phone industry's broadband offering, DSL.

Hmm... I might have to get a TiVo after all.

Thanks to Aron & Jon for sending this in.

Comments

[Alex]

This is some great news! Love my TiVo, love my Netflix. Both together is wonderful news.

[woe_is_me]

I've read that cable DVD downloads do not provide the same picture quality as does a DVD disk played at home. Cable downloads that do provide the same picture quality take several hours to download. If TiVo has the same problem I suspect many of us will continue using the mailing of DVD's for our home entertainment.

[AceInMySleeve]

Tivo spokeswoman has stated a 1 year time frame before movie downloading. Their board appears to be meeting this Thurs. I would expect more news Thurs or Fri.

[Anonymous coward]

woe_is_me said, "I've read that cable DVD downloads do not provide the same picture quality as does a DVD disk played at home. Cable downloads that do provide the same picture quality take several hours to download."

It is possible to compress a DVD or better quality movie into, perhaps, a 2-3 GB download. A user who has a 1.5 MB/sec DSL line and is able to average a megabit per second would take just over 7 hours to download 3 GB.

So movie downloading of that sort is still an 'overnight' sort of timescale. Of course the big bonus for everyone concerned would be the elimination of the 'Long Wait' that often accompanies a new release. That, and it cuts the turnaround from 'finishing' one movie to receiving the next from a best-case for postal delivery of 2 days (disc goes in Monday's mail, replacement arrives in Wednesday's mail) down to overnight (delete movie before bed-time, replacement finishes downloading by morning).

[nutley]

Wow, I am surprised that someone so into Netflix as to run a fan site would not own a Tivo. I've owned a Tivo since 2000 and it is definitely the best home entertainment purchase I have ever made. Tivo frees you from the confines of television scheduling in a way similar to how Netflix liberates you from the shackles of video store rentals. They go together like PB & J.

Aaaaarrrghh!!! I would never leave my house!! They would find my rotting corpse fused to the couch, with the remote gripped in my cold, lifeless hand and the dog nibbling at my ears!!!

By the way, I had this idea back in June. Do I get credit for that? Or am I just being annoying? (Don't answer that)