Advanced Television

Intel TV talking to content owners

March 27, 2013

By Chris Forrester

Intel, best known for its computer processing chips, is getting closer to launching its own on-demand pay-TV catch-up and ‘live’ TV service. The company is said to be in discussions with Time Warner, NBC-Universal, News Corp, Viacom and others in preparation for the launch of its Intel-based pay-TV service.  CBS’s CEO Les Moonves confirmed last month that the broadcaster was in discussion with Intel.

Intel’s Erik Huggers, well-known to European players for his work at the BBC, Microsoft and at Endemol, confirmed Intel’s overall plans in February and while at that time didn’t flesh out his programming plans it now seems that those discussions are advancing. Huggers has likened his plans to the BBC’s iPlayer service which he helped bring to market.

The new Intel service, which could launch later this year, would echo the BBC’s iPlayer system, but also have live network programming available on the system.

Key to the overall strategy is an easy-to-use Electronic Programme Guide (EPG). However, while the content owners might welcome any extra distribution for their signals, and archived content, there will be a price to pay.

Intel’s share price rose March 26th by almost 3 per cent on the news.

Categories: Articles, Catch Up, Content, OTT, Premium, Rights, VOD