#Oncue intel software#
#Oncue intel tv#

Representatives for Verizon, Viacom, NBC, CBS, Fox, Time Warner and Disney's ABC all declined to comment on their discussions with Intel.

#Oncue intel tv#

Many people who saw a prototype of the device, a nondescript black box, and toyed with the all-important graphical interface software, described OnCue as far superior to what is generally offered by cable and satellite TV companies. Still, by this summer, Huggers had more than 300 employees and was testing the OnCue device in the homes of thousands of Intel employees. Huggers ultimately made only modest progress negotiating slimmer packages of channels, people familiar with the talks said. While Intel never said how much it planned to charge for its TV service, Huggers billed it as a premium product, rather than a cut-rate option for consumers hoping to save money by cancelling their cable subscriptions. Making his case for Intel TV to the public for the first time in February 2013 at a conference near Los Angeles, Huggers assured the audience that Intel would not offer channels a la carte, an industry buzz word despised by entertainment companies that count on 'bundling' lower rated channels with popular ones.īut Huggers also said Intel would offer channel packages that 'are bundled right,' which many in Hollywood took to mean an attempt to slice off the less popular channels - something that would not come cheaply or easily.

Huggers, who had originally pitched the idea, developed a business plan, and soon set up his group in offices with the flashy look of a media start-up on the chipmaker's Santa Clara, California, campus. Otellini entrusted the project to Huggers, a veteran TV executive who all but boasted that he knew nothing about chips.

#Oncue intel software#

The often-clunky hardware and software provided by cable companies, and the highly controlled structure of cable packages, seemed to beg for a better solution. Its traditional strengths are in chip design and manufacturing, and it has little experience selling consumer products, much less television programming.īut Paul Otellini, Intel's CEO from 2005 until May this year, saw an opportunity for Intel to diversify into a new consumer business, one centred on a hi-tech set-top box and a slick user interface.

Intel, a storied semiconductor company that has struggled to manage the transition from traditional personal computers to mobile devices, was always an unlikely player in the digital television wars. Yet so far only Netflix has proven to be a major disruption to the lucrative relationship between pay-TV operators and the entertainment companies that provide them with content. Technology heavyweights, including Apple,, Google, Sony and Microsoft, all have similar ambitions.

Intel's retreat is a disappointment not only to former British Broadcasting executive Erik Huggers, who led the project, but also to others in Silicon Valley who saw it as part of a wave of next-generation digital television products that might help break open a market tightly controlled by a handful of cable companies and entertainment conglomerates. Sources close to the project said Intel is looking to sell the TV technology, called OnCue, with Verizon Communications emerging as the most likely buyer, as first reported by the AllThingsD Web site. The project faced daunting challenges from the start, and Intel's new CEO, Brian Krzanich, ultimately decided the company could not afford the distraction and expense, sources familiar with the decision told Reuters.Īt his first annual investor day on Thursday, Krzanich is expected to discuss the growing use of chips in everyday devices, plans to breathe new life into PCs, and Intel's growing contract manufacturing business - but not Intel TV. The drastic change in plans for the retail spaces follows the company's abrupt abandonment of a grand plan to become an entertainment hub in living rooms around the world - a retreat that has been rumoured but not yet acknowledged by the company. Instead, they will see ultra-thin laptops and new tablets from a variety of vendors that Intel hopes will help boost its massive but flagging computer chip business. Earlier this year, Intel rented temporary retail space in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago for a splashy launch of Intel TV, a new Internet entertainment service that the chipmaker promised could revolutionise the television industry.īut when customers walk into those stores this holiday season, they will not find any set-top TV boxes or programming services for sale.