Tivo strikes marketing alliance with Best Buy (now you can’t skip Best Buy commercials?)

July 8, 2009 | Dean Takahashi | Comments | |

tivoSilicon Valley video recording pioneer Tivo and Best Buy have struck an alliance in which Tivo’s digital video recorders will be heavily promoted at the electronics retailer’s stores, the New York Times reported.

Tivo is developing a version of its set-top box, which records TV shows and lets consumers skip commercials, to be sold in 1,100 Best Buy stores. Those digital video recorders will allow Best Buy products and services to be advertised to Tivo subscribers on their home TVs.

Best Buy is making a multi-year commitment to market Tivo. Best Buy is also financing a project to bring Tivo’s software and video search tools to Best Buy’s own brand of electronics, including its Insignia TVs.

The benefits for Best Buy include extending its relationship to customers outside of its stores. Best Buy moved down that path when it bought the music service Napster in September. Tivo is going to make Napster music available to its subscribers on their TVs. Tivo also wants customers to stop thinking of its as just a DVR box company.

If these guys get really cozy, don’t be surprised if Best Buy acquires Tivo one of these days.

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About the Author, Dean Takahashi

Dean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

  • MrGutts
    I think it maybe time to retire all my Tivo's. This is getting old from Tivo. I don't pay a monthly sub on every one of my Tivo's to see embedded commercials.

    SageTV and MythTV are looking better and better..
  • jonstewart
    Please don't place statements into your headlines that are bogus and not based on anything. Even if you add parenthesis and a question mark.

    Some journalistic advice from Jon:
    http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-september...
  • Haggie
    So Tivo gets premium placement in the stores, BestBuy gets to market their products to Tiv suckers (users), and the consumer gets what?

    I have a home-built DVR that I considered replacing with Tivo, but I just scrapped that idea. When Tivo gives me a free STB with no monthly fee, I'll consider having advertising crammed down my throat, until then, I'll stick with my home-brew DVR.
  • djc
    Tivo is cutting their throat. One of the main reasons DVR's became popular is the ability to elude the onslaught of never ending advertisements. Tivo has slowly been adding places to try to get you to click on advertisements as it is. So now you can pay a monthly fee on top of the hardware purchase to be forced to see, or annoyed with some type of add, for products Best Buy has to offer at it's over inflated pricing. Good bye to Tivo and I'll continue to get my electronics from online retailers at more reasonable prices.