Blockbuster teams with TiVo for on-demand rentals
The Blockbuster video rental chain is teaming up the TiVo DVR service to deliver video rentals directly to your television.
Starting today, owners of TiVo Series2, TiVo Series3, TiVo HD, and TiVo HD XL DVRs will be able to click on the “Video on Demand” areas in their units, and navigate to the the new Blockbuster area to see what all the movie titles up for rental are. Older movies will run $2.99 each, while new releases will be $3.99 each. More titles will be added in the coming months, along with a new selection of titles available in High Definition.
In addition to the new feature for current TiVo users, Blockbuster retail stores will begin selling TiVo units as of today.
“Blockbuster nights are synonymous with family and fun, something that goes perfectly with the TiVo experience,” said Joe Miller, senior vice president of sales and marketing at TiVo Inc. “By bringing Blockbuster’s content direct to TiVo subscribers, we show once again that TiVo offers much more choice and convenience for our customers compared to other DVR offerings. We are very pleased to say that customers can now walk into a participating Blockbuster store to purchase TiVo DVRs and that together both companies have succeeded in bringing even more entertainment direct to the living room.”
“When people see Blockbuster on their TiVo DVR, they’ll instantly recognize that they have a movie lover’s trusted source of entertainment at their fingertips,” said Bruce Anderson, senior vice president and general manager of Blockbuster On Demand. “We’re thrilled to give consumers another way to enjoy the movies they want most now with the convenience of their TiVo remote control in the comfort of their living room.”
While a nice added feature, Blockbuster has completely missed the boat in this move. Yes, there is the convenience of having new releases at your fingertips, or you can stop at a Redbox DVD kiosk and pick up a DVD for a dollar. Got a Netflix account? Sure they don’t have all the latest releases, but you have access to thousands upon thousands of movies via your TiVo for as low as $8.99 a month.
If Blockbuster had announced a similar service 4 to 5 years ago it would have been something to crow about, but in this day and age with all of the other competition in the video rental marketplace, this just comes off as a sad grasp at glory from a company severely out of touch with today’s consumer.
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October 13th, 2009
As I read this I had the same reaction. Where was this years ago?
Redbox isn’t for me either. I hate the mingle among the smelly crowd at the Redbox location.
Netflix.
Sad gasp. Can’t say it better.