TiVo and Best Buy this week made several potentially significant moves in a multi-part agreement in which Best Buy will pay for embedding TiVo’s software, electronic program guide and search on Best Buy’s private-label Insignia HDTV sets
Best Buy will also run ads on TiVo’s network of DVRs. Some will be infomercials, offering information about electronics gear like TV sets and letting viewers make purchases with their remotes. TiVo already offers a similar service for Amazon.com and Fandango, the online movie ticket service.
Consumers with broadband-connected TiVos will be able to listen to the Napster online music service on their TV/surround-sound system. They can already watch YouTube videos, purchase and download movies from Amazon.com and stream movies from Netflix and TiVo equipment and service will be promoted in Best Buy’s 1,100 retail stores.
Money-losing TiVo is fighting desperately for market presence against the “free” and low-cost DVRs that pay-TV services offer. Having lost the DirecTV account, its installed within DirecTV of DVRs dropped to 1.6 million in April from 1.7 million two years ago.
Best Buy, whose direct competitor Circuit City went belly up, is bracing for a renewed effort by Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, which has been upgrading and enlarging its consumer electronics departments.