Internet TV and web based video streaming is gaining popularity daily, and you know it’s closer to mainstream take-off when big business jumps on the bandwagon.

IPTV is increasingly making it’s way into more and more different facets of the consumer market.

The latest news to push that point further along is an Amazon-TiVo joint announcement stating movies available in Amazon’s Unbox department will be accessible to all Series 2 and Series 3 TiVo set top box owners/users – directly through interaction with said TiVo boxes - starting today.

Okay, so it’s not technically IPTV if we’re talking “Internet Protocol Television”. Same diff, though, folks. It all kind of fits under the same roof.

Anyhow, this is definitely good news, even for those uninterested in what TiVo and/or Amazon have to offer. 

Increased Competition

It’s going to give anyone else in the same biz - or soon to be in the biz (ahem, Apple, ahem) – a nudge to move a little more quickly and push equivalent services out sooner rather than later. Amazon and TiVo gotta have competition, right?

No, no, I haven’t forgotten that Microsoft is already doing this very thing with the Xbox 360. 

I do recognize the fact that owners of the platform can rent as many feature-length films (some in “high-def” format) as their multi-gig hard drives can consume.

Only, the Amazon-TiVo initiative is a tad different, in that it puts to the fore digital downloads. Front and center. 

It’s not an “oh, by the way” type of delivery. Both partners in the deal will likely push this quite hard. Well, at least Amazon will, as it definitely needs most to see that this direct download experiment turns into a fast-growing and lucrative success. 

Fighting To Become THE Medium

And TiVo must want to get on the wagon early as well, to see that its platform has a serious chance at being the medium with which movie viewers download desired titles. 

No point in waiting for Apple to claim the crown, eh? So, yeah, both parties, pushing this hard, looks like a recipe for success.

Possible success, I should say. There’s always the chance that they could screw this up. 

But I presume they’ve alpha tested this thing enough that most users will see that films download after they trigger the “Rent” or “Buy” buttons on their television screens, and that downloads play when TiVo users press play, and so on and so forth.

All we’ve left to do is wait and see how many takers to this new service there are after a few weeks’ or months’ time. Only then can we tell you whether the idea has hit big, stalled, or flopped. 

I’d sure like to see the first scenario take shape. Apple’s had enough time in the limelight, don’t you think? I think.

Paul Glazowski is a contributing author discussing the social networking world, his work can be found on Profy.com

Have Something To Say?