14 DAY TRIAL // While it won't ever become a player on the cable and set-top box industry, there is still one avenue for television that Intel can exploit: Internet TV. As it happens, Chipzilla is seriously working towards a successful entry in this market.
Intel has been making forays in the multimedia industry for a long time. Most recently, it has even said that wireless streaming (WiDi) should be a default part of HDTVs.
Software-wise, however, it still needs to put in some work, which is why it doesn't have an Internet TV service live yet.
Intel knows well that if it just launches one, most people will miss it without a lot of advertising.
Intel also needs deals with media companies, otherwise it won't have access to the TV channels it wants to broadcast far and wide.
According to Bloomberg, Chipzilla is definitely involved in such talks, and with some large-scale companies too.
If all goes well, the CPU giant will secure contracts for channels from NBC Universal, Time Warner, Viacom, etc.
CNN, USA Network, MTV, all these and many others could be part of the Internet-TV package put together by the Santa Clara company.
News Corp might sign over rights to Fox television stations and movies too. Intel is in financial negotiations with News Corp. for those, and has approached Disney and CBS as well.
Intel's TV service will launch later this year, but we don't have an exact date. As such, we have to wait for an indeterminate amount of time before we finally find out which on-demand shows, live streams and DVR capabilities people will be able to enjoy.
Whether prospective customers cancel their normal cable services and switch to Internet TV remains to be seen. It is all dependent on how many popular channels take to the world wide web.