We heard rumblings of such a partnership last fall, and now it appears that those rumblings were indeed legit: Amazon and TiVo are teaming up to get Unbox video downloads into your living room. The two companies will be announcing a limited test run today for an unspecified number of customers, with a full rollout expected "later this year." This of course comes on the heels of Wal-Mart's big announcement of all 6 movie studios inside its new download store, and it appears Amazon is quite aware of its content shortage. "We have a strong relationship with Disney," says Amazon's Bill Carr, "It hasn't been worked out yet, but it will be." TiVo CEO Tom Rogers commented on Sony, saying they've "indicated they're looking to be part of this at time of launch." So nothing set in stone, but Wal-Mart won't be able to just sit back and rake in the dough, especially with Amazon and soon Apple delivering these shows to the TV. Of course, the Amazon / TiVo edge is that instead of users springing $300 for an Apple TV, they can just turn on that broadband-enabled TiVo of theirs -- 1.5 million of which are already in homes. Unfortunately, DirecTV and forthcoming Comcast TiVo customers will be SOL. No additional hardware is needed, and there won't be any sort of service fee, just the existing iTunes-esque Amazon prices. Oh, and that TiVo / Netflix dealio a while back? Rogers says they went with Amazon thanks to its large customer network and large catalog of distribution rights, something Netflix couldn't deliver.

Read - Los Angeles Times
Read - USA Today

[Thanks Nick and SebS]