Intel is planning to launch a web-based TV service in 2012
Intel, world’s top chipmaker plans to create a “virtual cable operator” that would offer media companies’ TV channels in a bundle over the
Internet, the WSJ said. Intel is apparently exploring different options, but the end game is the same in each: they want to sell you TV programming over the internet. The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the chip maker is planning to launch an Intel-branded pay-TV service that will work with an Intel-built set-top box.
The Silicon Valley company has for several months been pitching media companies on a plan to create a “virtual cable operator,” which would offer their U.S. TV channels nationwide over the Internet in a bundle similar to subscriptions sold by cable- and satellite-TV operators, according to people familiar with the effort. Intel wouldn’t provide Internet access, which subscribers would obtain separately.
Intel’s tack is a little different than Google’s in that it would only provide the content and leave you to find your own ISP. Google’s plan, it seems, would be linked to the high-speed broadband service it is testing in Kansas City.
As the WSJ reports, a TV service would be a drastic change in direction for Inel, which over the years has been primarily a hardware manufacturer—not a consumer services company. The Wall Street Journal via Techmeme
very nice