14 DAY TRIAL // Intel would have retained OnCue as a fully proprietary web-TV service if it would have managed to negotiate content deals, but it didn't find any takers, so now it has to pass on the fruits of its labors.
The Santa Clara, California-based company kept trying until late October, 2013, when it began to look for someone willing to take the service off its hands.
After all, it would have been a shame to actually create all the hardware for the service and have to scrap it all. No one likes a waste.
Verizon was said to be the one most likely to acquire OnCue, something that has since been confirmed on more than one occasion.
Intel had to bring out all its haggling skills though, because apparently OnCue was a tough sale, or maybe Verizon just wanted to get the best deal it could, taking advantage of there not being many, if any, other willing to listen to Intel about it.
Anyway, according to Bloomberg, Intel and Verizon have almost finished inking the acquisition contract.
Intel will provide the fiber-optic infrastructure, servers, set-top boxes, and software, while Verizon will have to handle the negotiations for all the content deals and licensing.
The main issue that caused Intel's OnCue TV service to fail was the company's intention to offer more flexible packages of channels and on-demand content.
This, naturally, would have been great for consumers, but content owners didn't like the idea of breaking up their channel bundles because they'd have made less money, since less popular media would have been skipped. Even offering a 75% price premium over competitors didn't get Intel contracts.
Speaking of money, it's not clear how much Intel is getting for OnCue. We know it had $500 million / €364 million as a general goal at one point, and that it approached Samsung and Amazon in addition to Verizon, but that's it.