The MTV app, which first rolled out to iOS in June, hosts on-demand streaming of shows, while integrating elements of its past apps, like video extras. In other words, it puts some "second screen" entertainment on the "first screen" through Xbox.
But to check out full episodes, users must have a subscription from a participating TV provider. Xbox Live Gold subscriptions also cost $5 a month with a one-year signup.
It underscores the difficulty of so-called "over-the-top" television providers of getting TV content to users without those users having to be subscribers of a pay-TV service that beams the same content right to them. Digital rights for such content have been a key sticking point in a recent dispute between Time Warner Cable and CBS, with the cable company aiming to preserve the kind of authentication that the MTV app on Xbox Live requires, only for CBS's popular programming.
Editor's note: CNET is published by CBS Interactive.