Meta Unveils VR Smart TV

The weekly edition of Janko Roettgers’ newsletter, This is Lowpass, which focusses on the constantly changing nexus of technology and entertainment.

Large hero pictures emphasising particular TV series and films, a line of app icons, and several suggestions for more content: Meta’s new Horizon TV app initially appears to be quite similar to the home screen of a standard smart TV. Amazon, Google, or Samsung would include something on their devices.

The company’s Meta Quest headsets are used to run Horizon TV instead of a TV or streaming device. The software was unveiled at Meta Connect last month and is a major component of Meta’s strategy to draw in older, less game-focused viewers to virtual reality. This strategy also involves investments in sports and other leanback entertainment content, as well as a collaboration with James Cameron.

Meta, which has been attempting to find out how to get advertising into virtual reality for a while, has a chance to make money by recreating the smart TV experience in VR. Nevertheless, this strategy also implies that Meta is taking on some of the same issues that smart TV platform owners have long faced. Additionally, customers who start using their headsets to watch more content will undoubtedly come to the conclusion that, even in virtual reality, the streaming wars’ collateral harm cannot be avoided.

Zuck’s TV app was eventually developed by Meta, and before than Mark Zuckerberg predicted in 2017 that wearables for AR and VR would eventually render regular TVs obsolete, it made headlines. At the time, he told The New York Times, “What’s to stop us from one day having it be a $1 app instead of a $500 TV sitting in front of us?” He implied that a digital TV projected into your living room through glasses or a headset would eventually be on par with or even better than the actual thing.

Meta made the closest attempt to realise that idea to date eight years later: The Quest’s native video software, Horizon TV, has recently undergone a redesign and does resemble a standard smart TV interface. It’s no coincidence: “There is no denying that we have drawn inspiration from previous navigation systems,” says Sarah Malkin, director of entertainment content at Meta Reality Labs. “We want a feeling of familiarity among our customers.”

Streaming experts refer to Horizon TV’s user interface as content-forward, as is the case with many smart TVs nowadays. In addition to offering content recommendations for specific TV series, films, and livestreams, it deep-links into these apps rather than merely listing a number of app icons.

A small number of partners, such as Amazon, Pluto, and Peacock, provide the majority of the material that is available on the Horizon TV app. YouTube, Spotify, and DAZN app logos are also there; Disney Plus and ESPN are slated to debut on Horizon TV shortly. Several free video services, such Tubi and The Roku Channel, are conspicuously absent, as are Netflix, Hulu, and HBO. The Horizon TV app does not currently offer the ability to rent or buy films, subscribe to video services directly, or access ad-supported linear streaming channels.

At least not yet. Malkin informs me that while Meta has nothing to report on that front, the company is undoubtedly considering such features. Malkin states, “Our main objective is to support and give more outlets for the entertainment industry’s current business models to flourish.”

After investing $80 billion in AR/VR since 2014, Meta’s most recent investment will bring the total to above $100 billion. Despite generating $2.1 billion in revenue in 2024, Reality Labs reported operating losses of $17.7 billion, a record.