HBO is the latest U.S. television network to jump on the Internet TV bandwagon, albeit with a rather cautious approach.

The new service, dubbed “HBO on Broadband”, will be offered free of change to existing HBO subscribers only, and initially you’ll need to be served by the Wisconsin division of Time Warner Cable, and a user of their “Road Runner” high speed broadband service.

Over 600 HBO movies and shows will be made available each month, reports DVD Dossier, although most content will expire after four weeks. January’s lineup includes “We Are Marshall,” “Norbit,” “Breach,” “Smokin’ Aces,” “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Superman Returns,” “The Last King of Scotland” and the documentary “Baghdad Hospital: Inside The Red Zone.”

The New York Times provides a good overview of the challenges Apple — or any company — faces to deliver a European-wide online movie rental service.

“Apple will have to confront legal and regulatory hurdles, copyright challenges, scheduling conflicts and technological issues, reminders that the European media landscape remains a patchwork of individual countries, rather than the single market that the European Commission envisions”, notes the report.

Give TiVo points for continuing to improve its service for subscribers, and while you’re at it throw in a clove cigarette or two.

TiVo has struck a deal with Jaman, the peer-to-peer Web movie service, to bring its catalogue of American indie and international films directly to its set-top box. Think Oscar-nominated “Paheli”, “Loverboy” (Sundance), “All About Lily Chou-Chou” (Berlin International Film Festival), and “La Promesse” (Cannes) — movies that you’d have a hard time finding anywhere else. Ah, subtitled films.

Movie rentals on iTunes could pave the way for content from the BBC’s catch-up service, iPlayer, being offered on Apple’s platform, according to the broadcaster’s Future Media and Technology Director, Ashley Highfield.

Writing on the BBC Internet blog, Highfield says that Apple’s re-launch of the AppleTV (no computer required) is “encouraging” and, furthermore, the BBC could potentially piggyback on Apple’s newly announced movie rental offering, to deliver iPlayer content through iTunes.