Apple's tiny black media streamer is woefully underpowered when it comes to third-party content providers compared to the likes of Roku, but a new report claims at least one cable heavyweight may be coming to the Apple TV this year.
Bloomberg is reporting that Apple and Time Warner Inc. are in negotiations to bring the cable provider's HBO Go application to the Apple TV by the middle of this year, presumably an effort by Cupertino to play catch-up to smaller home theatre boxes such as Roku which already have the service.
According to two unnamed sources "familiar with the plans," the addition of HBO Go would be a first for the Apple TV because it requires pay-TV authentication, which would then allow subscribers to watch more than 600 hours of programming.
HBO Go is no stranger to Apple -- the company already has a free app for the iPhone and iPad available, which also requires users to have a monthly cable or satellite subscription to view programming on the go.
Apple sold more than two million Apple TV boxes during the last calendar quarter of 2012, with more than 7.8 million in total sold during the two prior fiscal years.
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choiceweb
February 01, 2013 at 11:34am
This would be great IF you didn't have to be an HBO cable subscriber to use it HBO Go.
I would use my Apple TV more if I could use regular HULU and perhaps some other websites that broadcast shows such as NBC's website etc.
