Gearfuse

Blockbuster is still the largest video rental store in the country but that’s not something to be proud of. People want content in their homes as soon as possible and driving to a store and renting a physical disc just doesn’t make the cut anymore. So, in an effort to save itself, Blockbuster has scrambled and partnered with dying DVR company TiVo.

While TiVo is in a much healthier state than Blockbuster, it only has 3.3 million subscribers, not a significant number. TiVo owners who have Blockbuster accounts will pay up to $4 to rent a movie, most with DVD-quality images. Customers will have 30 days to begin watching; once they do, they can view the video as much as they want for 24 hours. It will cost as much as $20 to buy a movie, but digital-rights software will prevent it from being copied to a DVD.

Essentially, Blockbuster is on its way out and wants to make one last stand. Remember the Alamo!

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Step aside Microsoft, there’s a new Netflix streamer in town. Today, Netflix announced that it has added TiVo to its growing list of streaming partners. Being that TiVo’s subscriber base hasn’t grown much since 2005, we’re thinking TiVo needs this partnership more than Netflix; considering Netflix has already partnered with LG, Microsoft and Samsung.

Netflix will be available to TiVo Series3, TiVo HD and TiVo HD XL owners. The two companies will begin testing the new service today in “several thousand” U.S. households, and it’s expected to be widely available in early December. Whether or not this will keep TiVo in the business of DVR remains to be seen. For TiVo’s sake, this partnership should keep them in the running for a few more years.

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