Facebook is making a video app for Apple TV

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Facebook is coming to Apple TV.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Mark Zuckerberg wants to take over your television.

Facebook revealed today that it is planning to build an all-new video app for set-top-box devices like Apple TV and Amazon Fire. And if it’s successful, it could cause big problems for YouTube.

The new Facebook video app will roll out soon, according to a company rep who spoke to Recode. Dan Rose, Facebook’s VP of partnerships, announced the app at the Code Media conference today, where Apple media boss Eddy Cue also made an appearance.

Full details on the Facebook video app haven’t been released yet, but it sounds a lot like YouTube — only for Facebook videos. The app will let you watch the same video you can already find on the social network, only on a much bigger screen than you’re probably used to.

“A lot of people when they’re watching video in News Feed during the day will save it for later, because they don’t have time to watch,” said Rose. “Now it’s easy to watch on your TV if you want to do that. We want people to be able to consume content wherever they are.”

Facebook’s app will also work on the Samsung Smart TV. Support for other platforms is likely in the works as well.

The company also announced that it will roll out vertical video viewing to all users. Facebook will also autoplay videos with the sound on by default, although users can (and undoubtedly will) change that behavior.

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