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HBO said on Monday that it is going to take provisional actions into online video with HBO on Broadband, a new service designed to help timeshift their TV programming. The feature will only be available for Time Warner Cable customers subscribed to the premium channel but will allow them to watch away from a TV without resorting to illegal copies or waiting for DVD releases. The users will be able to download and watch roughly 400 hours’ worth of HBO’s monthly content for up to four weeks after the download takes place. In a unique approach, however, the service will stream shows live for those who want to catch a series as it appears - which is a feature commonly missing from most “on demand” IPTV services.

I’m not sure how well this will go compared to the Apple TV. It sounds like a great concept, but the users will not have the same flexibility Apple gives. Like iPod and iPhone syncing, to view movies on-the-go. That said, Apple has actually crippled their service with DRM limitations and only allowing current generation iPods to view rented movies. HBO is using Windows Media copy protection and says that they will work with some portable devices. This could be PlaysForSure, which covers a wide range of devices - or it could be standard Windows Media protection - which is not so compatible.

Via [MacNN]