The Time Warner iPad app allows you to use your tablet as a remote but it also streams live digital TV to your Apple tablet. Well, you know that must cheese off some cable networks and the company is facing a bit of heat, reports say.
According to The New York PostThe New York Post, cable networks like Viacom and Discovery are reportedly furious because it doesn’t think the Time Warner iPad app has the proper rights and licenses for streaming live TV on the go. If you’re wondering what that means, welcome to the wonderful world of content distribution.
The reason why certain movies and shows aren’t ubiquitous online is because content owners like to create new licensing agreements for every freaking thing. For example, streaming a show in a mobile distribution isn’t the same as streaming it in a browser on the desktop or on your tablet.
Having live streaming TV is a major advantage for the Time Warner iPad app, as none of the competitors do this – to be clear, you also have to be a Time Warner cable subscriber. Competitors like the Xfinity program will give you on-demand videos but you can’t get live TV, which is awesome for things like sports, news or just flipping around.
I’m not a subscriber of this cable company, so I haven’t had a chance to get some hands-on experience but I believe that this will be the future on all tablets, so content owners and app distributors will work something out. I am a bit surprised that the Time Warner iPad app hit with questions about the licensing still up in the air but that should be negotiated soon.
Any of you out there using this app to stream live TV? Let us know how it works and what you think in the comments below.