At Intel's January 7th CES event, the tech company will unveil its new cable service and set-top box, according to sources close to TechCrunch. Reportedly, the first version of the service is well into development and will release city-by-city in order to provide the company with "more flexibility in negotiating licensing with reluctant content providers."
Intel hopes to untangle traditional cable bundles by limiting the scope of each launch and gaining the confidence of content providers over time. The service is said to offer the ability to access any program which aired dating back at least one month.
Previous rumors suggested that the device would implement facial recognition to tailor ads for the user, but given Intel's silence on the subject, we will only have to wait just a few short days until more information becomes available.
PCMag notes that both Apple and Microsoft are developing their own cable services as well, signaling a fight for the crown in the next generation of television content.
Sources tell TechCrunch that Intel was fed up with "everyone doing a half-assed Google TV so it's going to do it themselves and do it right." Intel initially partnered with several companies to bundle its chips into smart TVs when Google TV was set to take over the cable service space.