TiVo and YouTube announced an agreement on Wednesday to stream Internet videos directly to users' TV screens.

"TiVo's strategy is to bridge the gap between Web video and television and make as much content available as possible for our subscribers," said Tara Maitra, TiVo's vice president and general manager for content services to THE NEW YORK TIMES.

This is the second major entrant into the Internet video to TV game; Apple introduced Apple TV with similar features recently.

Several smaller companies have tried to merge content, but no one has emerged as a dominant player.

No exact date has been set for the YouTube service, but it will be only available to TiVo users with the latest hardware (a Series 3 or HD set-top box) and a broadband connection.

Only an estimated 800,000 of the total 4 million TiVo users have the necessary requirements.

It will work by letting users log into their YouTube accounts and access playlists. Users will also be able to subscribe to video feeds from across the Internet through an R.S.S. reader.