Last week word leaked out that Time Warner Cable will begin offering the Fan TV set-top box to work with its services this summer. The hockey-puck-sized box will only connect to your home computer network, and will allow streaming of live TV, TWC’s On-Demand services, and internet streaming services. The selection of live TV will likely be that offered in the current iPad app, which does not include local channels. At launch later this quarter, the supported services will be Redbox Instant by Verizon, Crackle, Target Ticket, and Rhapsody.

Unlike Time Warner’s current offerings of set-top boxes, the Fan TV box is fully purchased up front, and carries no monthly charges for basic services. The box will retail at $149, but can be pre-ordered at $99 now .

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Fan TV is an interesting offering, given the secret insertion of the Integration Ban legislative proposal last week (which would allow cable companies to design equipment that doesn’t use an internal CableCARD, the next step in their abandonment of the technology – pay attention, TiVO users !). Perhaps this is TWC’s set-top box of the future. If TWC can offer all of its channels to the FanTV,  it can be a fantastic improvement over their awful current selection. This box will not be a DVR, however if the OnDemand services can offer the most recent episodes, that should be enough for non-sports fans. TV behavioral statistics show that people don’t really use their DVRs, so that technology is headed for extinction, anyway.

At first blush the setup seems as simple as the Chromecast, Roku, and AppleTVs, but the remote is simply a touch pad. Interesting (though I much prefer a smartphone/tablet interface that slings to a TV over these 10-foot interfaces on the current devices.) With a $99 introductory price the FanTV might be a great experiment for the summer. Likely the selling prices for these on eBay will be greater than $99, so what’s to lose?