Amazon has begun beta testing its forthcoming streaming video service (sign up here) called Amazon Video on Demand. It’ll offer the ability to immediately stream any of the 40,000+ TV shows and movies that are available through Amazon’s “Unbox” service. The real story here, though, is Amazon’s partnership deals with various hardware vendors. It’s already struck a deal with Sony to include the service on new Bravia TVs via Sony’s Bravia Internet Video Link (see our previous coverage) and I bet it’ll show up on TiVo soon, too, since TiVo and Amazon are already in cahoots.

The first two minutes of every movie or show will play for free in the hopes of enticing users to purchase the entire thing and it’ll also store purchases “in the cloud” so you can buy a show at work and watch it at home (or any other computer for that matter). Beta testing starts today and a full rollout is expected later in the year.

[via NYT]