TWC Pulls Channels From iPad App Lineup

Time Warner was forced to pull networks owned by Fox Cable, Viacom and Discovery from its iPad lineup.

For consumers who had both an Apple iPad and a subscription to Time Warner Cable's TV service, the launch of the TWCable TV App seemed like a gift from heaven. Although the actual channel lineup was limited, TWC customers could watch a number of their favorite TV shows anywhere in the house. It became an immediate hit, crashing TWC servers and forcing the company to throttle back its channel offerings until it could handle the high demand on a hardware level.

But once everything was peachy-keen, another wrench was thrown into the TWC-Apple marriage, a trio of networks that go by the name of Fox Cable Networks, Viacom and Discovery. They demanded that TWC pull specific channels from the iPad lineup or face the wrath of a lawsuit. Naturally, no one wants to lose money, especially TWC. So the channels were yanked from the iPad including Animal Planet, BET, CMT, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, FX, MTV, National Geographic, Nickelodeon, Spike and VH1.

"We believe we have every right to carry the Fox Cable Networks, Viacom and Discovery programming on the iPad app," the company said in an official statement. "But, for the time being, we have decided to focus our iPad efforts on those enlightened programmers who understand the benefit and importance of allowing our subscribers – and their viewers – to watch their programming on any screen in their homes. "

Of course, TWC isn't going to be "pwn3d" without a fight, stating that it's going to peruse its legal rights to offer the channels as it sees fit even though the programmers don't share the same vision. "The enthusiasm of our customers and the programming partners who have embraced the app, rather than those who are solely focused on finding additional ways to reach into wallets of their own viewers, has convinced us more than ever that we are on the right path."

TWC followed up on Friday by saying that it filled the empty hole left by the nuked channels with a batch of 16 national and 3 local channels. These include A&E, ABC Family, AMC, Bravo, Disney, Food, History, Syfy,Travel, USA and many more. "We will continue to fight to ensure that our customers have access to the content they pay for, no matter which screen in their home they choose to view it on," the company added.

As of March 28, more than 300,000 TWC customers had downloaded and activated the TWCable TV App, with the numbers climbing "by the minute." The company said that remote control functionality and the ability to order and watch VOD content will be added soon. However so far, there's no indication that subscribers will be able to watch cable TV on their iPad outside the home at any point in the future.

"It’s a natural question to ask," said Time Warner's Jeff Simmermon. "We’ve just launched a website that will hopefully address a lot of the questions we’ve been getting from the public at large."

To read the company's Q&A, head here.