James Delahunty
12 Feb 2013 18:54
Intel Media VP Erik Huggers has confirmed that the chipmaker will enter into the growing and competitive Internet TV space with a new service, set to launch this year.
Huggers said that hundreds of Intel's employees are testing out a set-top box that the company will bring to the market as part of its service. Intel Media is currently in ongoing negotiations with content providers.
It joins Google, Amazon and Apple in their quest to shake up the $100 billion cable TV ecosystem, taking advantage of changing habits of consumers.
"We have been working for (the past) year to set up Intel media, a new group focused on developing an Internet platform," Huggers said at the AllThingsDigital "Dive into Media" conference.
"It's not a value play, it's a quality play where we'll create a superior experience for the end user."
Huggers once worked for the BBC, and launched the iPlayer for the British corporation in 2007.
As well as providing on-demand content, Intel wants to step ahead of the competition and offer live programming too, whilst also making its system smarter. For example, Intel's STB will include a camera that can filter content for a specific users, and also target ads more effectively.
"There's a scenario where the TV recognizes that it's you and says 'Hey, I know what you like. I know what you want to watch', versus the environment we're in today where the TV literally is not interested in you at all," Huggers told the Reuters news agency.
Intel's move comes as its core business in providing PC chips is starting to suffer from changes in modern computing.