Watching TV on an iPad

Right now, this transition is something of a mess. Media, cable and technology companies are battling over what can be shown on which platforms in which time frames. Various shows and networks are available on some digital services and devices, but not others. Some services have commercials, others don’t. Some have current shows, others mainly older ones. They use different payment models. Networks and shows can appear and disappear from digital services unpredictably.

Despite all this industry jockeying, consumers can easily watch TV shows on their digital devices, legally. Apple’s iPad, which dominates the new tablet category, has become a capable device for doing so. It made its debut a year ago with a TV app built in, and it continues to gain new TV apps. For instance, HBO just released one. These apps mainly offer delayed, not live, viewing.

You can certainly watch shows on computers and smartphones, but I find the iPad especially good for this purpose. It is a lighter, thinner and more immersive device than a laptop, yet it has a large enough screen and strong enough battery life to make TV viewing satisfying. It can even transmit shows, via a cable or wirelessly, to big TV screens if you like. Competing tablets also will be good platforms for this, but, so far, they have far fewer TV-watching apps, so the iPad is by far the best tablet for TV watching now.