A January 1st, 2013 post to gigaom describes how semiconductor chip-making giant Intel may be on the verge of shaking up the TV business.
If the rumors are true, the days of purchasing an expensive bundle of cable channels - most of which you never watch - may be coming to an end.
And the convergence of all the services available online (e.g., gaming, TV, movies, apps, music, online search, etc.) may be at hand...
According to Janko Roettgers's reporting, Intel is about to announce a box (sold at Best Buy, Costco and Walmart?) that will deliver a potentially paradigm-busting video service - streaming games, apps, and only the TV channels and library content (e.g., films and every episode of your favorite TV shows) that you want to all the screens in your home, including your HD TV sets, but also your tablets, PCs and mobile phones.
"Intel’s set-top box will offer access to third-party apps, but also TV content licensed by Intel — something that has been one of the key challenges of the project. Reuters and the Wall Street Journal detailed earlier this year how the company wanted to secure the right to stream individual TV channels over the internet, and Forbes reported this weekend that it will offer consumers the ability to subscribe to individual channels, as opposed to a big and expensive cable bundle."
As reported in a December 30th, 2012 post to Forbes, Intel has been working on a product that will outstrip anything offered by Apple, Google or Microsoft: "Intel’s set-top box will also have access to Intel’s already existing app marketplace for apps, casual games, and video on demand. Leveraging the speed of current broadband, and the vast shared resources of the cloud, Intel plans to give customers the ability to use “Cloud DVR”, a feature intended to allow users to watch any past TV show at any time, without the need to record it ahead of time, pause live tv, and rewind shows in progress."
If Intel (with "the cash on hand to spend its way out of a tight squeeze") can make the deals to merge premium cable TV with streaming video services (like Netflix) - as well as providing games and apps and a cloud-based DVR - all in one little box that uses the internet in ways that no other service currently provides - the long-foretold convergence of home entertainment into one device and service may be that much closer.
Thanks to digital media strategist Chris Dorr for sharing the link.
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