TiVo users can order Amazon movies from TV

updated 9:26 a.m. ET July 10, 2007

ALVISO, Calif. - Users of TiVo Inc.’s digital video recorders will be able to order movies from Amazon.com Inc. directly from their TVs starting Tuesday.

The two companies partnered in March to deliver Amazon’s Unbox download service to TiVo machines, but the feature required customers to place their orders on a computer through Amazon’s Web site.

Now, PC intervention won’t be needed. The new “Buy on TV” feature allows TiVo users to search Amazon’s video catalog and rent or purchase titles using their TiVo’s remote control.

The feature works for owners of TiVo Series2 and Series3 broadband-connected DVRs.

The new feature is the latest example of how companies — including Microsoft Corp., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Apple Inc. — are trying to find ways to deliver online videos to customers’ living rooms.

In conjunction with the new feature, TiVo developed a safeguard so users would have to punch in a five-digit password to complete the transaction, said Jim Denney, TiVo’s vice president of product marketing.

“We wanted to avoid the baby sitter scenario where you come home to find a bunch of movies on your TiVo that you didn’t order,” he said.

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