TiVo to Pimp Their Subscribers to Amazon

Bad news for TiVo subscribers–the company is about to reach for new levels of advertising debauchery. If you thought those banners in the TiVo menu system were bad, know that the company is about to take things a big step further and invade actual television programming with Amazon as their partner. From the NY Times:

Owners of TiVo video recorders will see, in TiVo’s various onscreen menus, links to buy products like CDs, DVDs and books that guests are promoting on talk shows like “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “The Late Show With David Letterman” and “The Daily Show.”

That much is unrolling today. As for the future…

In the months ahead, TiVo plans to begin offering this feature to advertisers and programmers, so that the chance to buy products and have them delivered will be presented to viewers during commercials and even alongside product placements during live shows.

There was no mention of an option to opt-in to the ads.

In a completely unrelated announcement, I have two TiVo HDs for sale. [NYTimes]