Surprise, surprise: Negotiations with content providers are significantly delaying Intel’s plans to take over your living room, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Sources tell the WSJ that Intel originally planned to launch a television set-top box, which will reportedly allow consumers to subscribe to television channels over the web by the end of 2012. But now the timing is up in the air. Intel could either end up debuting it in the middle of this year or in the fourth quarter, due to prolonged content deals, the sources say.

Rumors of Intel stepping into the TV set-top box business have been around since last March, following the company’s move away from providing chipsets for Google TV devices and the geek-friendly Boxee Box. Last week we heard that Intel may debut its set-top box at CES next week, but now that doesn’t seem very likely.

Content deals have typically squashed attempts at revolutionizing the living room. Google TV had plenty of potential at launch with its ability to combine traditional TV service with web video, but broadcast networks were quick to block GTV devices from their websites and Hulu (which is owned by several networks). There’s still no official Hulu app for Google TV (or for devices from Boxee). Even Apple has dealt with content issues — it took forever for the Apple TV to get a Hulu app, and it’s likely a big reason why there aren’t more apps available on the Apple TV.

After paving the way for Internet-based TV networks, Revision3 might finally be catching some attention from well-established cable television companies.

The startup is rumored to be in discussions with The Discovery Channel about a possible acquisition, reports TechCrunch. Revision3 has spent the past few weeks working on the deal, which values the startup between $30 million to $40 million. The report also indicates that a sale could be finalized by the end of the week.

Revision3 declined comment to VentureBeat regarding the potential sale.

The web-based TV network produces a variety of original shows about technology, comedy, pop culture, video games, music, and more. Some of its most popular shows include EpicMealTime, Diggnation, Tekzilla, Destructoid, and Totally Rad Show. The network is available across a plethora of digital platforms (e.g. Roku, Boxee, Zune, Tivo, Yahoo’s Connected TV Platform, Google TV, iOS, Android, and an HTML5-optimized video player). Those shows are mainly produced in Revision3′s studio, with videos that get distributed to several different platforms (YouTube, Facebook, AOL, Yahoo, iTunes, etc.) that generate revenue from a mix of advertising and in-show sponsorships.

The company’s programming brings in about 100 million monthly video views — with yearly audience numbers comparable to traditional cable TV networks, as VentureBeat reported back in January. And while Revision3 didn’t reveal its financial records for 2011, it did state that ad revenue was up by 53 percent compared to the previous year.

If an acquisition does happen, Revision3 would become the first Internet-based network owned by The Discovery Channel, which also owns TLC, Animal Planet, Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), The Military Channel, and Science Channel.

Honestly, I think the $40 million price range for Revision3 is a steal, considering what a traditional television-based media company would gain. Revision3 has successfully built a model that distributes its programing across all of the important streaming video platforms/devices. It’s also figured out how to make money through all of these channels. Not only could the The Discovery Channel utilize this model for its own programming, but it would also be gaining a stable of fresh TV personalities who are familiar with less traditional production practices.

I doubt we’d see a cable channel version of Revision3, but certainly some of the network’s shows could cross over into some of Discovery’s preexisting channels. For instance, instead of playing an eight-hour block of “How it’s Made” on the Science Channel, we could get a dose of tech news and reviews.

The new network will feature live streaming video content 12 hours a day during the week from 9 a.m to 9 p.m. ET, according to a THR report. Founding Huffington Post editor Roy Sekoff will head up the new network, which will be produced in AOL’s New York City and LA studios by a staff of 100 employees.

AOL said the new network will be available on a variety of streaming media platforms, such as Roku, Boxee, Google TV, Playstation, and others. The company also said its open to the possibility of launching a cable network further down the line, according to the THR report.

The target audience will extend from the main HuffPo website while catering to mobile devices. Sekoff described the content as “a never-ending talk show” that will “mirror the Internet experience.” The network, which is expected to launch in early summer of 2012, aims to create 30,000 on-demand clips.

Given some of AOL Chief Executive Tim Armstrong’s bold statements about growing the company’s video presence during yesterday’s Q4 earnings call, the news about the new network isn’t very surprising. The choice to transform the Huffington Post into a video network also makes a lot of sense. Armstrong said 70 percent of Huffington Post articles contain embedded videos. So, by producing the bulk of those videos in-house, AOL will be able to gain more leverage on advertising.

If you’ve ever perused the free content channels available on pretty much any internet-connected video device, it’s very likely that you’ve seen Revision3′s familiar logo. The network is available across a plethora of digital platforms (e.g. Roku, Boxee, Zune, Tivo, Yahoo’s Connected TV Platform, Google TV, iOS, Android, and an HTML5-optimized video player).

The company produces a variety of original web programming about technology, comedy, pop culture, video games, music, and more. Some of its most popular shows include Diggnation, Tekzilla, Destructoid, and my personal favorite, the Totally Rad Show. While the shows are mainly produced in Revision3′s studio, videos get distributed to a variety of different channels (YouTube, Facebook, AOL, Yahoo, iTunes, etc.) and generate revenue from a mix of advertising and in-show sponsorships.

Revision3 recently shared its 2011 growth report with VentureBeat, and it shows that internet television networks are finally starting to break into the mainstream: The network’s total viewership across all video programs in 2011 reached nearly 800 million, while annual revenue was up 53 percent compared to the same period last year.

Revision3 also reported an increase in the size of its advertising/sponsorship deals, up 80 percent from a year ago. Not only that, but the network managed to gain advertising dollars from some of companies such as Ford, Doritos, Electronic Arts, Verizon, Sony, T-Mobile, Citrix, Gamestop, HTC, About.Me, and Samsung.

Most of Revision3′s programming appeals to the coveted 18- to 34-year-old male demographic, which Revision3 CEO Jim Louderback refers to as “the lost boys”.

“They don’t watch TV anymore, and most of their time is spent on the internet consuming web video,” said Louderback, who attributed part of the network’s higher viewership to its new lineup of popular YouTube shows, such as the Philip DeFranco Show, Film State, and Epic Meal Time.

As for the higher revenue, Louderback said ad clients are finally starting to shift from “testing the waters” with advertising on non-traditional programs to really making a large monetary commitment. “They’re starting to trust us because we can prove what kind of a return to expect,” he added.

Louderback said the company is already seeing record growth in 2012. Earlier this month, the network provided extensive live coverage of the Consumer Electronic Show, which included over 200 videos from various Revision3 shows. Over the course of a week, the CES videos delivered over nine million views.

“I don’t see doing live shows as something that’ll increase the audience overall. But if we can provide unique access to something in real-time, then it can work very well like it did with our CES coverage,” Louderback said, adding that Revision3 will do more live videos in 2012 when it makes sense.

The partnership with LG comes right after Google TV’s effort with Logitech crumbled. In Dec. 2010, Logitech released the Logitech Revue set-top box running Google TV. The product performed poorly, and just last week Logitech CEO Guerrino De Luca called the device a mistake, saying it cost the company $100 million in operating profits. Google TV still has a ongoing partnership with Sony.

The Google TV OS attempts to bring the wealth of video content on the Internet to traditional TVs. It is still a work in progress. In late October, Google announced an update for Google TV, featuring a simplified user interface, better search functions and more emphasis on its YouTube features. It also opened the platform to Android developers.

In the Oct. blog post announcing the Google TV update, Google hinted at new partnerships: “We look forward in the coming months to announcing new software updates as well as new devices on new chipsets from multiple hardware partners.

Bamboom Labs is headed by Chaitanya “Chet” Kanojia who’s last startup Navic Networks was acquired by Microsoft in 2008.

The company’s technologies allow customers to access free over-the-air broadcast signals over the Internet and direct it to connected devices.

The team includes people from Navic and Microsoft as well as RF and digital technology engineers from Andrew Corporation, Lucent and others.

Copyright laws make distributing the TV programming over the Internet quite tricky. There needs to be some creativity from Bamboom’s side. The company cannot just redistribute the TV signal over the internet without facing the wrath of copyright holders. That means Bamboom would need to license content to retransmit it over the net — a costly and complicated process that even Google has had trouble with.

Bamboom’s way around copyright issues at the moment is to rent a personal antenna to the customer. That way the customers, not the company, are responsible for recording and retransmitting. And that should take care of the issue, LA Times reports.

The company has four Google TV sets on the way at 24-inches ($599), 32-inches ($799.99), 40-inches ($999), and 46-inches ($1,399). Thankfully, Sony’s official pricing is much more reasonable than the leaked prices revealed last week, which ranged from $1,000 to $1,899. The Google TV-powered Blu-ray player will retail for $399.99.

The 32-inch and up sets will feature LED backlighting, which enables brighter screens and thinner displays than traditional LCDs. While I previously assumed Sony would be charging a premium for its Google TV HDTVs, its official pricing is on-par with LED HDTVs available today. All of the TV sets will feature WiFi, and will come with the typical pre-installed Google TV apps, including Netflix, Pandora, Napster, and more.

Sony will also be packing its monstrous new remote with all of the Google TV sets. Judging from multiple hands-on reports, the remote isn’t a complete nightmare, but it will take some getting used to. Engadget’s Paul Miller writes:

Although both of your thumbs rest naturally on the controls up top, you’re not supposed to use them at the same time — you can either arrow around the UI with the left thumb or control the mouse with the finicky optical pad under your right. The two things are totally separate, so you’re using the arrows and you accidentally click the right button, you end up selecting whatever’s under the mouse cursor and going off in a totally different direction. It’s weird, especially since it’s supposed to feel like a PS3 controller — a controller that generally uses both thumb controls together very effectively.

Miller also confirms that the controller’s overabundance of buttons doesn’t make much sense — something that anyone with a working pair of eyes could tell at first glance.

Sony’s Google TV-powered HDTVs and Blu-ray player will be available at Sony Style stores on October 16 and at Best Buy on October 24. They’re also currently available for pre-order at both the Sony Style and Best Buy websites.

Much like Hulu, Clicker.tv spotlights popular episodes of television shows on its simple home page. It also provides advanced search functionality, allowing viewers to find search by media type (TV, general web, music, movies, etc.) All of this can be controlled with keystrokes, eliminating the need for a mouse and making the interface seem more like a remote control.

But Clicker also lets users create playlists of media to view or listen to later, similar to DVR systems like TiVo. These users can set up notifications letting them know when new content they have bookmarked or may be interested in has been indexed on the site.

The company says that Google contacted it about presenting at the I/O conference when it caught wind of how it was using HTML5, a new version of the standard language for Web pages which Google is supporting. HTML5-based Web apps promise to be more compatible with smartphones, tablets, and other alternative computing platforms than technologies designed for conventional PCs, like Adobe’s Flash.

Clicker aggregates more than 650,000 television episodes, 30,000 movies and 80,000 music videos. All of this video content is pulled from popular online sites like Netflix, Amazon and network television websites. The service notched 1 million users in April. Clicker founder Jim Lanzone, formerly the CEO of Ask.com, says the company expects continued growth.

The Los Angeles-based startup recently raised $11 million in a second round of funding led by Jafco Ventures. Earlier investors Benchmark Capital and Redpoint Ventures also joined the round.