Time Warner Cable app launching today on Xbox 360 (update)

Xbox 360-owning Time Warner Cable subscribers will be able to access live cable television channels through a new app that's launching today on Xbox Live, Microsoft and Time Warner announced today.

The companies originally announced their collaboration on the app in June. It is available only to U.S.-based Xbox Live Gold members.

The TWC TV app supports Kinect voice and gesture controls, and includes a programming guide that allows users to sort content by genre, channel names and TV show titles. Genre-based radio stations are also available, and users can see what their friends are watching through the app. Channels accessible through the TWC TV app include BBC World News, CNN and the Food Network.

With the launch of TWC TV, Time Warner becomes the third major U.S. cable provider to offer its content through the Xbox 360; a Verizon FiOS app became available in December 2011, and Comcast released an app for on-demand Xfinity content in March 2012. The FiOS app now includes upwards of 75 channels, but Time Warner's app easily trumps that — it offers as many as 300 live TV channels, depending on the subscriber's cable package.

TWC TV won't include Time Warner's video-on-demand content at launch, but Microsoft said it's working with the company to eventually bring VOD into the app. That would make the Xbox 360 the first device to offer both Time Warner's live TV and its VOD content.

Update: The app is now available.