TiVo announced this past Tuesday that they access to Blockbuster’s long awaited OnDemand rental service.  In a last ditch effort for Blockbuster to stay in business as well as remain competitive with Netflix.  TiVo subscribers can buy classic movies for $2.99 and $3.99 for new releases.  Blockbuster will add more films over the coming weeks including some select HD titles.

If you’re like me and don’t have a TiVo, Blockbuster will begin selling TiVos in the majority of Blockbuster stores around the US.  Blockbuster is still two steps behind Netflix, which is already streaming videos to TiVo DVRs for no additional fee to users (aside from the monthly Netflix subscription fee).  Amazon as well as Youtube also provide streaming options to TiVos.

Blockbuster’s new service is available to owners of TiVo Series2 and TiVo Series3 DVRs (including the TiVo HD and TiVo HD XL).  Depending on how many movies you watch per month, it might be cheaper to go the Blockbuster route instead of paying for Netflix each month.  Also remember that with your Netflix subscription, you can also select and then stream media to your XBox 360.

This is a reactionary move on Blockbuster’s part, a hail mary to try and get back into the media game.  But I think it’s too little too late.  They’re better off being bought out by someone instead of trying to salvage a lost cause.  It will be interesting to see in the coming days how this service is, especially the amount of problems.  I hope for Blockbuster’s sake they have worked out 99% of the kinks.