Sometimes companies appear to make announcements simply for the sake of getting press. That would appear to be the case with a new partnership between Amazon (AMZN) and Tivo (TIVO).

The two companies have built a system that is "a new way for consumers to watch movies and TV shows downloaded from Amazon’s Unbox service on their TV sets via their TiVo digital-video recorders", according to The Wall Street Journal.

The new product can compete with Apple’s (AAPL) iTV, Microsoft (MSFT) Media Center, Slingbox, and a host of other products that are aimed at "convergence", the marriage of PC and TV.

Since a large number of TV households don’t have a Tivo or have a digital recorder provided by their cable company, the potential customer base for the new offering is relatively small. It also appears to be harder to use than a remote control or DVD player, which means many consumers will simple view its as too complicated.

Except, perhaps PhDs in engineering.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@247wallst.com. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.