Blockbuster And TiVo Join Forces

The New York Times is reporting that Blockbuster and TiVo will announce today that they are teaming up "to deliver Blockbuster’s digital movie library over the Internet directly to the televisions of people with TiVo digital video recorders." The deal apparently involves no money but will see TiVo customers have access to Blockbuster's library and Blockbuster offering TiVo devices from it's retail stores. “We are excited to be teaming with TiVo, the company that created the DVR, to make Blockbuster’s entertainment content readily available to their millions of subscribers,” Jim Keyes, chief executive of Blockbuster, said in a statement. “Ultimately, our vision is to work with TiVo so that their subscribers can access movies not only through our On Demand service but also from our stores and through our by-mail service as well.”

Another Blow To The Video Rental Store Model

In January Apple turned on movie rentals from within it's iTunes store. Today the service has gotten a little better with an announcement that new movie titles will be released for rental or purchase on the same day as their DVD release. Previously the service had to wait 30 days after the DVD release date to add a title to its catalog. This can be seen as a big blow to traditional retailers as it removes one of the big advantages that brick-and-mortar retailers like Blockbuster had on the online downloading alternative. As ars technica puts it "...customers get new titles on the spur of the moment without having to leave the house." With competition from the likes of Apple and Netflix, it's not looking great for the likes of Blockbuster, Rogers, Jumbo Video , or insert your neighborhood video retailer here.

Blockbuster Rumoured To Be On Verge Of Offering Set-Top Box - Streaming Video

The Hollywood Reporter has posted an article that claims Blockbuster is close to launching a streaming video on demand service similar to Apple TV. The company refused to comment but the Hollywood Reporter is quoting a Blockbuster spokeswoman as saying "We're talking to numerous companies and vendors about products, services, alliances and initiatives that can help us achieve our mission to transform Blockbuster into a company that provides access to media content across multiple channels -- from our stores, by mail, through kiosks, through downloading, through portable content-enabled devices-- so it's not surprising that there are rumors out there."

With all of the current options for obtaining movie content, it will be interesting to see if Blockbuster can make this service work. They've not exactly lead the way with innovative delivery methods to date.

Blockbuster leaning towards Blu-Ray

Blockbuster Inc. announced today that it is expanding its offering of Blu-Ray movie titles to over 1700 company stores. The news release states that it will continue to offer both Blu-Ray and HD DVD titles through its online store and through the initial 250 retail locations that carry both formats. While they are not ruling out carrying HD DVD titles, this is definitely a push in the Blu-Ray formats direction and an obvious win for Sony. The company says it will monitor customer demands and make decisions accordingly.