Intel sells TV business to Verizon

Intel has agreed to sell its cloud TV division, Intel Media, to Verizon, after failing to bring its much-anticipated OnCue TV service to market following more than two years of development. 

The deal, which was agreed for undisclosed terms, includes all the intellectual property rights and assets related to Intel’s OnCue Cloud TV platform.

Verizon said it will also make employment offers to “substantially all of the approximately 350-person Intel unit”, which will continue to be based in Santa Clara, California, and be led by its current management team, which is headed up by former BBC iPlayer boss Erik Huggers.

“The OnCue platform and team will help Verizon bring next-generation video services to audiences who increasingly expect to view content when, where and how they want it,” said Verizon chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam.

“Verizon already has extensive video content relationships, fixed and wireless delivery networks, and customer relationships in both the home and on mobile. This transaction provides us with the capabilities to build a powerful, capitally efficient engine for future growth and innovation.”

Verizon said it expects to integrate IP-based TV services with its existing fibre-optic FiOS TV service “to further differentiate FiOS from traditional cable TV offerings and to reduce ongoing deployment costs.”

It also said the move would enhance the search and discovery, interactivity and cross-screen use for its TV customers, with its FiOS TV service to be integrated with the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, who joined the firm last year, said that the sale “enables Intel to further align our focus and resources around advancing our broad computing product portfolio in segments ranging from the Internet-of-Things to data centres.”

Though Intel’s OnCue service was originally slated to launch in 2013, reports from September claimed that Intel would miss this goal and was seeking a partner with an existing internet subscriber base or content rights. Verizon was tipped last month to be the frontrunner to buy the Intel TV assets.

Huggers, who is Intel Media’s corporate vice president and general manager, said: “We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved. Intel provided us with the technological know-how and resources to develop products and services that will fundamentally change the way we experience TV, and now Verizon gives us access to the marketplace and the ability to scale.”