Disney movies on tap at TiVo

A screen shows Internet services available through an broadband-connected TiVo digital video recorder at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas

Digital video recorder maker TiVo is set to announce Thursday that hundreds of movie titles, most significantly from Disney, will be available to its broadband subscribers courtesy of deals with CinemaNow and Jaman.
TiVo is no stranger to delivering movies to TV screens by way of the Internet; it has been doing so through a relationship with Amazon Video on Demand, a service that has been up and running since last year, though under the name Unbox.
Amazon VOD, though, doesn't include Disney films. CinemaNow offers a service that includes movies from many studios, though TiVo users will only get Disney films.

Thus, TiVo now can offer movies from all the major studios through a combination of Amazon VOD and CinemaNow.
For the past few years, TiVo has been repositioning itself as a retriever of entertainment content wherever it resides, as opposed to a simple recorder of TV shows. That's why it has struck several partnerships, including one with YouTube.
The company views the strategy as a way to differentiate itself from other DVRs from cable and satellite TV companies that do less but are cheaper and more popular. There are about 36.2 million DVRs in U.S. homes, but only about 3.6 million of them are TiVos.
Like with Amazon VOD, the Jaman and CinemaNow services will allow users to choose movies -- either by way of their TV screens or by cell phones or computers -- and have them downloaded to their TiVo hard drives. The titles will show up as saved content similar to the TV shows they have recorded.
CinemaNow rents movies for as little as $2.99 and includes such titles as "Dumbo," "The Fox and the Hound" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."
Jaman's contribution is a boatload of such independent titles as "Super Size Me" and "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room." Jaman titles will rent for as low as $1.99, with some short films and more obscure titles being offered for free.
"Our goal is to offer unlimited media content through one device with one easy-to-use interface, and these partnerships ensure that vision has become reality," TiVo GM of content services Tara Maitra said.