Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq:AMZN) and Tivo Inc. (Nasdaq:TIVO) are joining forces to allow people to download tv shows and movies from the Internet to their digital video recorders.

The service will be available to the 1.5 million people with TIVO DVRs with broadband capabilities later this year. The Associated Press said the companies refused to give a target date for its launch, which immediately makes me wonder if they are having technology problems. Still, this may video downloads attractive to people who don't want to spend hours watching videos over their computer screen.

Amazon launched its Amazon Unbox download service last year Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) just got in the game. Of course, there's still a whole host of other services such as NetFlix Inc. (Nasdaq:NFLX), Movielink and CinemaNow. Apple Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL) also full-length movies at iTunes. Plus, there are loads of sites that offer the content illegally.

So far, companies are more eager to offer video downloads than the public is to buy them. That may change as people get used to the technology but the law of supply and demand still holds. I expect that these services will become cheaper and that small sites will get squeezed out of business.

This is great news for consumers but the impact on investors won't be known until the market develops, which won't be for a while.