Is TV as we know it about to change forever? Time Warner Cable is testing out a service that will allow you to sign up for your TV with no cable box required. Adam Balkin filed the following report.

Since the dawn of cable TV, you’ve always needed that big cable box under your set to get your channels. But for some people, that may be about to change.

Time Warner Cable, our parent company, is getting set to test a service that’ll allow you to sign up for your TV, no cable box required - just a little Roku for streaming your live TV over your broadband connection.

"Some customers are always going to want a set-top box, and it’s easy for them and it makes sense. Other customers want to have their Netflix and their Amazon Prime in the same place as their live TV. This is exactly our Time Warner Cable video service as it exists today. You get about up to 300 live TV channels as well as up to, I think it’s about 20,000 Video on Demand titles," says Alix Cottrell of Time Warner Cable.

Time Warner Cable says it’s mainly targeting two types of people: those who are high-speed customers who don’t subscribe to video, and those looking to shave a few bucks off their monthly bill since, with this new method, you no longer pay the monthly set-top box rental fee.  

So where are we now? Is this the beginning of streaming pushing out cable boxes for good, or can the two coexist going forward?

Time Warner Cable is just one of several traditional TV providers offering some sort of new streaming service. Others include Comcast, Charter and Dish Network.

“Right now, I think just from a cost standpoint, those streaming boxes are the most attractive proposition for a lot of people. But I think it’s kinda indeterminate right now. It could go either way," says Michael Gorman, editor-in-chief of Engadget. "I think eventually, you’re going to see one box that can rule them all, that can do everything. But I think we’re a ways off from that actually happening."

Time Warner Cable’s test of its streaming service is slated to begin next week in New York City. It’s even offering to give customers who sign up a free Roku box. It’s worth noting that with the service, at least for now, you do not get DVR functionality or pay-per-view. There is no word on when the service will expand throughout the country.

If you’re interested in signing up for the new streaming service, you can do so, and get more details, at twc.com/twctv-roku-interest.