TiVo Enables Instant Streaming of Netflix Movies, TV Episodes

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 30, 2008 - 9:30am.

Alviso, Calif. - TiVo (NASD: TIVO) announced on Thursday a partnership with online DVD rental service Netflix (NASD: NFLX) that will provide TiVo owners the ability to stream thousands of movies and TV episodes from Netflix directly to their televisions.

The feature will be available at no additional charge to Netflix subscribers who also own a TiVo Series3, TiVo HD or TiVo HD XL.

A subscriber's Netflix Queue will be automatically displayed on television via the TiVo interface, and using a TiVo remote users will be able to browse their instant Queue, read synopses and rate movies.

The companies said they will initially test the new capability in several thousand U.S. households, and expect to make it more broadly available in early December.

Neflix currently offers its subscribers instant streaming of some 12,000 movies and TV episodes.