TiVo and Netflix Connect

TiVo and Netflix, hoping to strengthen each other's over-the-top video gambits, have inked a pact under which customers with Internet-connected DVRs can access Netflix's library of 12,000 titles.


The partnership is designed to fuel buzz for Netflix's Internet-streaming service and TiVo's broadband play, which are still in the early stages.

Of the 3.6 million TiVo subscribers as of the end of July, only about 800,000 have connected their DVRs to a broadband pipe and only about two-thirds of those regularly use the broadband features. Netflix has about 8.7 million subscribers. The companies didn't say how many customers have both services.


TiVo and Netflix said the feature is expected to be generally available in early December. 


The Netflix "Watch Instantly" Internet streaming service is included as part of its monthly DVD-by-mail plans. Netflix has increased the selections recently through deals with Starz Entertainment, Disney and CBS.


Netflix is embedding its Internet-streaming service in a host of consumer electronics. The company has deals to enable Internet streaming in the Blu-ray Disc players from Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, as well as Microsoft's Xbox 360 videogame console and Roku's $99 set-top.