Let the console TV posturing commence. Effectively immediately, up to 300 stations from Time Warner Cable are available on Xbox 360. Using the Time Warner Cable TV app on Xbox 360, Xbox Live Gold members who are also Time Warner Cable subscribers can watch the cable company’s most-popular TV channels directly from their console.
The news from Microsoft comes just weeks after Sony announced a deal with Viacom to provide content on a paid-TV service. That service is all but assured to be embedded in the PlayStation 4. Likewise, today’s news about the Time Warner Cable TV app on Xbox 360 is likely to extend to the Xbox One when Microsoft’s console launches later this fall
According to Microsoft, the Time Warner Cable TV app on Xbox 360 “was one of the most requested experiences by TWC customers.”
Using the Time Warner Cable TV app on Xbox 360, the console essentially “becomes a voice-enabled entertainment console.” This is precisely what Microsoft has been touting with Xbox One, so it’s clear that the deal is a babystep toward a wider integration with the Xbox One.
How does it work? Let’s let Microsoft tell the story: the app instantly extends “your TWC subscription to other TVs and rooms in your house: The gamer in your house can take a Halo break to watch their favorite shows on HBO, MTV, Comedy Central, FX and tons more without picking up the TV remote. Or, your kids can watch Nickelodeon in the den through your cable set-top box while you’re glued to the final episodes of Breaking Bad on AMC through the TWC TV app on your Xbox.”
Microsoft also indicated that it’s working with Time Warner Cable “to add Video On Demand though the Time Warner Cable TV app on Xbox 360 later this year, offering customers access to both TWC broadcast television and Time Warner Cable On Demand.” That functionality will likely go live on Xbox One at the same time.