Struggling to grow out of debt problems, Blockbuster on Wednesday announced that it has inked a partnership deal with TiVo to offer its movies and TV shows from its online digital library to TiVo digital video recorders. The two companies confirmed the partnership deal that will make Blockbuster’s service available on all TiVo Series2 and Series3 DVRs.

The Dallas, Texas based DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and video game rental chain, Blockbuster stated that the deal will make Blockbuster OnDemand accessible to about 800,000 TiVo owners having broadband Internet connected directly to their TiVo boxes.

In a statement, Jim Keyes, chief executive of Blockbuster, said, “We are excited to be teaming with TiVo, the company that created the DVR, to make Blockbuster’s entertainment content readily available to their millions of subscribers. Ultimately, our vision is to work with TiVo so that their subscribers can access movies not only through our On Demand service but also from our stores and through our by-mail service as well.” Kevin Lewis, Blockbuster's senior vice president for digital, said, "This relationship with TiVo is step one in getting to the places that consumers care about.”

Blockbuster announced that it will start selling TiVos at many of its 4,000 stores in the United States, late this year, after its video service becomes available on TiVos. TiVo stated that Blockbuster's service will be made available on all TiVo Series2 and Series3 DVRs, including the HD and HD XL models, in the second half of this year. The two companies said that they will launch a joint marketing campaign to promote the new service.  

Joe Miller, a TiVo senior vice president, said the Blockbuster deal will help the company sell more devices. Miller said, “Typically you will find consumers reward and appreciate companies and technologies that take an open approach to business, and that is what we are doing here.”

According to Blockbuster, it will offer a selection of about 5,000 to 10,000 titles at any one time. The TiVo owners having Blockbuster accounts will have to pay up to $4 to rent a movie, most with DVD-quality images. The customers will be able to rent a movie for 24 hours or for 30 days. The customers will be able to buy a movie for $20.

Blockbuster and TiVo stated that the partnership deal will help the two companies to boost up their businesses respectively. The two companies however declined to discuss financial details. "The studios and we are trying to figure it out," Lewis said. The two companies also did not make it clear what movies might be available.

With the partnership deal with TiVo, Blockbuster has become the latest Internet video-on-demand service to appear on TiVo DVRs. TiVo already has similar deals with Amazon and Netflix.