Not officially confirmed by company officials yet, it looks like online retailer Amazon is one step closer to rolling out $2.99 high-definition TV episode downloads through its Video on Demand service.
Amazon customers will be able to view the downloaded content through the Roku set-top box and TiVo, analysts expect. Amazon and TiVo have been testing the HD VoD service the past few weeks, and first reports indicate both video and sound quality have been stellar.
An interesting, yet obviously unconfirmed feature includes the ability to purchase an HD "TV Pass," which gives customers the option of purchasing an entire season of a popular TV show for a lower price than if they were to purchase and download each episode individually.
The $2.99 price point Amazon is looking at is the same as competitor Apple, which also sells TV episodes through iTunes for $2.99. Apple recently announced it will make it easier for PC iTunes users to have access to HD content on their computers, which seemingly was limited to the Apple TV.
The ability to either stream or download HD content has quickly evolved over the past few months, as consumers demand HD content for their new HDTVs. Streaming HD still has proven to be rather tricky due to the amount of bandwidth required, but it's something content providers are extremely interested in developing.
