Intel Looking To Sell IPTV Service By End of 2013 – Report
Intel reportedly wants $500m for its yet-to-launch web TV service OnCue, with Verizon amongst the possible buyers
Intel is reportedly looking to sell OnCue, the IP television service developed for the company by former BBC web television executive Erik Huggers, for about $500 million (£315m) before the end of the year.
According to Bloomberg, the chip maker is looking to sell the unit by the end of this year and is in talks with vendors including US communications provider Verizon.
Verizon and Intel did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but previous reports have suggested that Intel has also met with Samsung and Liberty Global, which operates Virgin Media in the UK.
Content challenge
Intel hired Huggers in 2011 to develop OnCue, and he, along with about 300 staff, has produced a set-top box as well as server and mobile client software, all of which has been demonstrated to the press. The service is billed as providing broadcast, cable and internet content, and as of February 2013, Huggers was saying publicly that Intel wanted to launch OnCue by the end of this year – a plan which Intel reiterated in July.
“Ultimately we want to deliver a better form of television,” said Eric Free, vice president and general manager of content and services at Intel Media, at the time. “We’re very confident we’ll get the content we need to launch later this year.”
However, Intel has continued to struggle lining deals with television content providers, and current Intel chief executive Brian M. Krzanich, who took over in May, has pushed the company to narrow its focus on core areas such as mobile chips. In September Intel was said to be looking for partners such as Samsung and Amazon to help fund and distribute Intel Media, including OnCue.
OnCue is designed to work over any high-speed Internet connection, which could allow Verizon to expand its current pay-television service, which is currently only available on the company’s FiOS fibre-optic network. Verizon has more than five million pay-television subscribers and nearly six million broadband users in 13 US states..
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