Entertainment Device Deals Reshape the Streaming Industry Yet Again

"Our whole focus going forward is to give users unlimited content and control," said Tara Maitra, TiVo's VP of content services.

Amazon's Jeff Bezos, speaking at The Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference announced that his site would soon being offering streaming video in addition to Amazon's Unbox deal. Since Unbox already has deals with Disney, NBC Universal, Warner Bros, Sony, and HBO, and since it uses the Tivo DVR as part of its delivery mechanism, this announcement puts TiVo and Amazon on a competitive path.

Netflix Steps Up Streaming Offering
Netflix recently announced an increased subscriber base of 8.24 million users, a 21 percent increase over a year earlier, but was hammered because of its outlook on the potentially declining DVD-by-mail market. Now, it’s trying to attract more customers via reaching exclusive agreements with content producers and new technology to allow streaming. In November, Netflix reached a deal with NBC Universal that allows customers to watch shows such as Heroes online the day after their original air date and this week.

DVD-by-mail volume will peak between 2013 and 2018, according to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who added that the company expects to more than double its subscriber base within a decade, with video-streaming services fueling growth after DVD rentals peak.

As the leader in U.S. by-mail movie rentals, Netflix is watched closely and Hastings expects Netflix will surpass 20 million subscribers and ultimately phase out DVD mailings.

"The market that can be reached through streaming is much larger than DVD," said Hastings, adding "we should be able to get well beyond 20 million subscribers."

To that end, Netflix partnered with in-home streaming appliance manufacturer Roku to start selling the $99.99 Netflix Player, which can be connected to the internet via Ethernet cable or placed anywhere in the home that a wireless home network reaches. Netflix also said it would develop set-top streaming boxes to compete with Apple TV and Amazon’s Unbox. Netflix's currently has 10,000 titles for streaming to personal computers and now the Netflix Player.

Blockbuster's Lackluster New Offering
Blockbuster, though, in this week's announcements, only offered a way for customers to come in to its stores and transfer files to portable media players. CEO Jim Keyes this week showed off an in-store kiosk, which currently takes about two minutes to transfer a movie onto a customer’s portable device, although the company claims it will shortly be able to do so in less than 30 seconds.

Critics of this non-streaming scenario abound. Dan Frommer, who runs the blog Silicon Alley Insider, is one of them.

"There's a lot to be skeptical about," said Frommer. "Right now, Blockbuster has no content deals, and the trial kiosks only work with devices made by Archos. But let's pretend the company can get all the studios on board and make its vending machines compatible with Apple's iPods and iPhones. Then will it fix Blockbuster's problems? No. Why not? Because there are very few use cases for a kiosk that rapidly transfers a digital movie to your iPod. It might make sense at the airport, where you can quickly grab a few movies before a long flight. But beyond that, it will rarely be the most convenient way to obtain digital media."