It's about time! Time Warner Cable gets HBO Go, Max Go

Time Warner Cable customers just received their holiday gift early: after a long wait, they'll soon have access to HBO Go and Max Go.

HBO launched HBO Go last year. The offering allows HBO subscribers on certain cable services to stream movies, television shows, documentaries, and other content over the Web and on mobile devices, like Apple's iPad. HBO Go comes with 1,400 available titles, while Max Go includes access to over 400 Cinemax videos.

HBO Go launched with support for customers on DirecTV, Verizon, and several other cable and satellite services. However, HBO owner Time Warner surprised many industry observers by not offering access to Time Warner Cable, a company it spun off in 2009.

In an interview with the Financial Times earlier this month, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes addressed the Time Warner Cable snub, saying that it was due mainly to the cable provider's poor job of "promoting TV Everywhere." It's not quite clear what might have changed in the last two weeks since Bewkes made his comment.

Even so, Time Warner Cable is a potentially major opportunity for Time Warner as it tries to expand HBO Go's reach. Bewkes said earlier this month that the application has been downloaded 5 million times, and users have streamed more than 98 million programs since its launch.

Time Warner says HBO Go and Max Go will launch "in the next month." When they do, they'll be locked down to HBO and Cinemax subscribers, respectively.

Update 11:01 a.m. PT: Cablevision today announced that it, too, has reached an agreement that will let it bring HBO Go and Max Go to its customers. The company said it expects to offer those services "in the next few months." The addition of those Cablevision iO TV customers means HBO Go will now be available to 98 percent of HBO subscribers, said Eric Kessler, co-president of HBO, in a statement.