TV lovers, rejoice! The future of legal, licensed television watching is here, and it’s….incredibly locked down! Time Warner has introduced a beautiful new iPad app that lets you log in with your Time Warner Cable username and password and watch TV anywhere on your iPad. Well…as long as “anywhere” is “in your house, or on the wireless network of another Time Warner Cable customer, as long as you yourself have a cable package from Time Warner at home.” So much for mobile.

From the iTunes page for the app:

Requirements

• iPad with iOS 4
• Time Warner Cable video package at the Standard (Expanded Basic) level or higher
• WiFi connection to Time Warner Cable Internet Service (Road Runner Standard or higher recommended for best experience; Earthlink High Speed or Earthlink Cable Max is supported)
• Time Warner Cable username and password

Well, the idea is good. Limiting the app to wi-fi is sensible, but limiting the app to home use sort of defeats the point of having a mobile tablet you can watch TV on, doesn’t it? It might be good for watching TV while lying in bed. Or on the toilet. Can you disinfect an iPad?

TWCable TVâ„¢ for iPadâ„¢ [Time Warner Cable] (Thanks, Jonathan!)

Update: Apparently, TV networks don’t like it very much, either, and claim that they never authorized it. Does anyone actually like this app? (Thanks, MaximusMMIV and Cheap Sniveler!)

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