Rumor: Intel to Reveal Virtual Cable TV Set Top Box at CES 2013 With Killer Catch-Up TV Feature!

Intel has previously attempted to get into the TV set top box business with Google and others, but found the experience less than satisfactory, as they felt that the other players weren’t really serious about the projects. An anonymous video industry source said to TechCrunch that Intel was frustrated with “everyone doing a half-assed Google TV so it’s going to do it themselves and do it right”. Intel want to create a set top box in the shape of a digital video recorder (DVR) with their chips inside, along with a subscription TV service “that would appeal to people who want streaming TV access but don’t want to entirely cut the cable cord and lose key content like sports”.

To achieve this, Intel have had to work with content providers to secure the appropriate licencing deals, with particular attention paid to unbundling of the various channels so that Intel can provide their customers with a service fully according to their own design, without any compromises from restrictive licensing deals. A killer feature of this DVR will be the ability to watch programmes that have been missed, going back as far as a month, as explained in the quote below. This might be the one feature that will convince people to ditch their current DVRs and subscriptions and switch over to Intel’s. It would certainly interest me, for sure. Finally, a source from inside Intel has said that Intel will have a working prototype to show off at CES 2013 on January 7. We can’t wait!