“Time Warner Cable is ‘hard at work at a cloud-based [TV] guide experience’ and is open to giving up control of the user interface as it looks to make its service accessible via new devices, including Apple’s iPhones and iPads, president and COO Rob Marcus told an investor conference in New York on Wednesday,” Georg Szalai reports for The Hollywood Reporter.

“But he emphasized that this does not mean that the cable giant is willing “to give up the customer relationship” as the company is committed to ensuring that people know its TV services are provided by TW Cable and not any device maker or other third party,” Szalai reports. “Deal details will depend on the partner and circumstances though, he told the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference in New York in a session that was webcast. ‘In some of those cases that may mean giving up control of the interface,’ Marcus said without mentioning Apple by name. ‘It really is all about maximizing the capabilities…to give Time Warner Cable customers the best possible experience.’”

MacDailyNews Take: Good, because right now Time Warner’s set-top box UI [Mystro] sucks donkey you-know-what. It’s worse than anything even Microsoft could dream up.

Szalai reports, “Marcus’ comments came after recent comments that TW Cable has held talks with Apple about possible agreements that would lead Apple to provide or control the cable firm’s user interface.”

Read more in the full article here.