One of the biggest public disputes has been over the iPad app from Time Warner Cable, artlessly called TWCable TV. Discovery, Fox and Viacom sued over the inclusion of their channels in the app. While Discovery and Fox appear to have settled their issues with TWC, the Viacom services are still missing from the app. The app works only in your home and only if you subscribe to both cable TV and broadband service from TWC.
The app is simple, good-looking and intuitive. It is a fine start.
The app launches with a splash screen of a TWC logo on an avocado green background. I have never seen that color associated with the company previously. Much like the app's name, one wonders if the branding people approved it. [Addition: I have since seen this green -- or a more lime-ish tint -- on TWC trucks, but the website graphics are blue, the color I had always associated with the company.]
It feels new. This is not the clunky navigation from the set-top box ported to a new platform. It does feel like an iPad app. It is a limited functionality app. You can only watch live TV and only of the handful of channels that they have provided. When you leave the app and return, it returns you to the last viewed channel, just like a regular TV
Sign up is via the TWC username and email that you need for programming your DVR from their website (which, by the way, doesn't work that well) and other account management functions. Blessedly, this only needs to be done once.
The app only works in landscape orientation. The guide is a translucent list of channels that appears on the left side and starts when you launch the app. If you tap on on the screen on the right side, it goes away and the channel you are watching expands to fill the iPad's width (preserving the aspect ratio).
The guide fits eight channels at a time and displays the channel logo (small, not always that clear), the title of current show, one line of description about the episode and the start time and title of the next show. When the guide comes up, a a translucent bar at the top also comes up that provides 2 buttons. On the right is "Channel History" which which shows and provides one-click-access to the last four channels that you have viewed. This is an interesting interface choice that adds some functionality to the ubiquitous "last channel" buttons on TV remotes. On the left is the "Log Out" button, although I can't understand why anyone would ever do so in normal use.
The guide and top bar will disappear on their own after a short while. To bring back the guide, tap on the screen. There is significant latency switching between channels. This is not a dream device for ADD channel surfers. The video generally worked well. I had some experiences of waiting for it to reload/buffer video when I was not switching channels.
There is no way to reorder the channel lineup or bookmark favorite channels.
The channels carried are a mix of services, with a decided preference for HD versions, which is a little odd given the iPad's 4:3 aspect ratio. The full list of the 73 channels carried is below; by my count 16 are SD channels. The app originally launched with 32 channels. It is unclear to me if the app's channel lineup can be revised on the fly or if TWC has to issue an updated version of the app whenever it wants to make a change.
What isn't carried:
- any broadcast channels (not even thinly-viewed digital multiplex feeds like ABC's Living Well)
- any premium channels
- anything from Viacom (e.g., Nick, MTV, Comedy, Spike)
- any of the HD-only services (e.g., Smithsonian, MGM, HD Theatre)
Given how sports-driven most subscription television marketing is and how crucial sports is seen for most early adopter video innovations, there is little sports programming in the app. Golf Channel is the only full-time sports service in the lineup. None of the New York regional sports networks are available. The ESPNs are not, except ESPNews; they are available on the WatchESPN app. Versus, MLB, NBA, NHL, Tennis, Big Ten, Gol, Speed, Fox Soccer...none of them are available. Nor are TNT and TBS which have significant slates of sports. In contrast, women-targeted services are very well represented: 3 Lifetime services, E!, HGTV, Food, Oxygen, WE, Style and Wedding Central.
My television subscription includes all of the 73 channels listed below. It is unclear to me if TWC blocks out the digital tier or HD channels for customers who do not subscribe to them. Conversely, I wonder if some of the foreign language services that I do not see on the app are available to other customers who do subscribe to them.
There is no access to the recorded content on your DVR. There is no closed captioning or SAP. There is no-access to any on demand content. The only "switch" in the settings panel is "Remember password". This is version 1.0.2008 of the software.
In short, if you have an iPad the app is well worth downloading and looks like it will add some value to a cable subscription. I'm not sure that I will end up using it that much given its limited functionality and the presence of more-fully-featured actual TVs in my household.
In terms of the business dispute, TWC is taking the position that because the app only works in the home, the iPad is essentially operating as another television and its rights to carry channels on it are covered by its rights in its regular affiliation agreements. There is certainly a lot of support for the programmer's side of the argument that this is not another television (for starters, no must-carry broadcast channels are carried) and that these rights have to be negotiated separately.
The list of channels carried. The name is how it appears in the top bar when selected (except for the comments in parentheses or after the dashes). The numbers do not appear on the guide, that's just a function of this list.
- A&E HD
- ABC Family HD
- AMC HD
- Animal Planet HD
- Bio HD
- Bloomberg TV (oddly only in SD, however the Bloomberg HD feed just launched on this system)
- Boomerang (SD)
- Bravo HD
- CNBC HD+
- CNBC World (SD)
- CNN HD
- CNN International (SD)
- C-SPAN HD
- C-SPAN2 HD
- C-SPAN3 HD
- Cartoon Network HD
- Chiller (SD)
- CurrentTV (SD)
- Discovery Channel HD
- Disney Channel HD
- Disney XD HD
- E! HD
- ESPNews HD (not ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU all of which are on the WatchESPN app, which does not have ESPNews HD).
- Eternal Word Television Network (SD, although the HD feed is carried on the system)
- FX HD
- Food Network HD
- Fox Business HD
- Fox News HD
- G4 HD
- GSN (looks like HD)
- Galavision HD
- Golf Channel HD
- HGTV HD
- HLN HD
- Hub HD
- Hallmark Channel HD
- History HD
- History International HD
- Home Shopping Network HD
- IFC HD
- Investigation Discovery HD
- Jewelry Television by ACN (SD) -- weird to see such a lengthy name for an obscure channel
- Lifetime HD (which launched the same day as Bloomberg HD)
- Lifetime Movie Network HD
- Lifetime Real Women (SD)
- MSNBC HD
- Military Channel (SD)
- Mun2 (SD)
- NY1 News HD
- NY1 Noticias for Time Warner (SD) -- odd branding in the "for Time Warner"
- National Geographic HD
- National Geographic Wild HD
- Oprah Winfrey Network HD
- Ovation TV (SD)
- Oxygen HD
- Planet Green HD
- QVC HD
- Reelz Channel HD
- Science Channel HD
- Sleuth (SD)
- SoapNet (SD)
- Style HD
- Sundance Channel (SD, although the HD feed is carried on the system -- a particularly odd choice for a movie service)
- SyFy HD
- TLC HD
- TV Guide Network HD
- TV One HD
- Travel Channel HD
- Turner Classic Movies HD
- USA HD
- WE tv HD
- Wedding Central HD
- truTV HD
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