After on-off relationship, Netflix streaming comes to TiVo

It may have taken four years but they got there in the end. Netflix and TiVo today announced that the two companies have began rolling out access to Netflix’s ‘Watch Now’ video streaming service on Internet connected TiVos.

As Dave Zatz notes:

The process probably hasn’t played out exactly the way TiVo and Netflix anticipated when they initially inked a development agreement in 2004… In fact, the struggle to find content and move this project forward drove Netflix CEO Reed Hastings to declare there’s “no work going on,” “no content,” and “no point” in 2005. Fast forward a few years and it’s pretty clear that the landscape has drastically shifted. Content is everywhere and Netflix intends to serve as many platforms as possible: “We want to be integrated on every Internet-connected device, game system, high-definition DVD player and dedicated Internet set-top box.”

It’s pretty impressive that over the last six months Netflix has delivered on its promise to bring its Internet TV offering on to many devices beyond the PC. What sounded like pie in the sky – especially in light of the company’s on-off relationship with TiVo – has actually panned out, in which Netflix streaming is available on game consoles (Microsoft’s XBox 360), set-top boxes (Roku), DVRs (TiVo) and Internet connected DVD players (LG and Samsung).

See also: Don’t call it a hobby: Netflix and TiVo continue to push Internet TV into the living room

Want to hear more from Netflix’s CEO? We got a spare ticket for NewTeeVee Live in San Fran. on Nov 13 where he’ll be speaking. (See: NewTeeVee Live: last100 reader discount and ticket giveaway)

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last100 is edited by Steve O'Hear. Aside from founding last100, Steve is co-founder and CEO of Beepl and a freelance journalist who has written for numerous publications, including TechCrunch, The Guardian, ZDNet, ReadWriteWeb and Macworld, and also wrote and directed the Silicon Valley documentary, In Search of the Valley. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.

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