Facebook may be thinking about getting into the pay TV game much like Amazon. A new report suggests that the company will soon be selling HBO subscriptions and will also enable users to watch the cable network through its own apps. It’s said to be in talks with major cable networks for this initiative, including HBO.
Citing industry sources, Recode reports that Facebook is talking to pay TV networks like Showtime, Starz, and HBO about selling their streaming services through its platform.
Those who buy subscriptions from it would then be able to stream those networks on Facebook itself, most likely through the Facebook Watch platform. It may also be possible for those subscribers to stream their preferred cable network on another device such as a set-top box.
This isn’t something that the people in the industry aren’t familiar with. Amazon has been doing this for a while now and Apple is expected to start doing this from 2019. So it wouldn’t surprise anybody if Facebook decided to get in on the action as well. Facebook has reportedly been talking about a potential deal with HBO and the others for a few months now. It’s aiming to launch this product in the first half of 2019.