Netflix and TiVo recently announced a new partnership to offer movie downloads to customers starting as soon as 2005. Owners of TiVo devices that connect to home networks will soon be able to receive a video stream of a movie or download it to their hard drives in the same way consumers currently buy music downloads through services like iTunes and Napster.

The partnership between TiVo and Netflix is a strategic move that combines the unique strengths of each firm. TiVo was the first to enable TV viewers to record television shows onto a computer hard drive shaped like a TV set-top box. Netflix popularized the notion of renting movies online, delivering them by mail. The combination of the two services could quickly forge a new standard for convenient movie distribution in the digital age.

The recent announcement is further evidence that the race to bring digital content to TV viewers is heating up. Even with increasing competition from big movie studios, broadband Internet providers, and technology giants such as Microsoft, analysts suggest that the alliance of TiVo and Netflix is likely to be the most consumer-friendly attempt yet to distribute movies over the Internet. The companies have not yet won distribution deals with movie studios but said the services could start as soon as next year.