Apple will be updating their Apple TV software next week. One expected improvement will be the ability for friends to play the media they paid for on their iTunes accounts on your Apple TV.

This is good news if you want to listen to your music or watch your TV shows and movies when you’re away from home. Hotels with Apple TV devices in bedrooms will become that bit more attractive to people who’ve bought content on the iTunes Store. Eventually those who have use an HBO app on their Apple TV might be able to use that app and see that content on the other side of the world.

Rights to content could be based on Apple only allowing one log in at a time of an Apple ID to access media. ID could be confirmed by entering the password on a nearby iPhone or iPad, so that the foreign Apple TV wouldn’t ever get access to Apple ID details.

Once any Apple TV can play your media, I hope Apple extend the feature so that any iOS device can play your media too.