While Comcast was first to announce their intentions to bring live cable television to the iPad, Time Warner Cable is first to execute with the release of TWCable TV today:
Now you can watch your favorite networks on your iPad in your home! If you are a Time Warner Cable video subscriber, the FREE TWCable TV™ app turns your iPad into another TV screen and lets you watch selected live cable TV channels with your home WiFi connection. Watch Bravo from your bedroom, take Food Network with you to the kitchen, or catch up on CNBC news from the breakfast table. Watch selected live streaming TV channels now, and stay tuned for future releases with additional channels and expanded app functionality from Time Warner Cable.
DISH Network would like to remind us that they were the first provider to offer live (and recorded) content via their Slingbox-enabled VIP 922 DVR. But it’s a bit of a trade off. They provide access to all channels from within and beyond the home, yet it’s potentially a kludgy experience. (And the more attention they get, the more likely it is that the studios will object to that unlicensed placeshifting beyond the home.)
TWC’s iPad app looks pretty smooth by comparison and content is streamed directly from their servers, versus being relayed from one’s set-top box (and commandeering a tuner). About 30 channels are available at launch, but I expect this number to grow as the studios grow accustomed to the idea that a cable receiver is something more than a Motorola or Cisco produced box that sits under a television.
As “cable” distribution migrates to Internet pipelines, one wonders how metered broadband or caps will play into this… It’s going to get interesting.