Facebook Watch is a new platform offering a dedicated place to watch your favourite shows

Facebook said the shows would include videos of the Women's National Basketball Association, a parenting show from Time Inc and a safari show from National Geographic.

Tech2 News Staff|Aug 10, 2017, 06:57:43 IST

Facebook Inc on Wednesday made its biggest move to date to compete in the television market by expanding its video offerings with programming ranging from professional women's basketball to a safari show and a parenting program.[caption id="attachment_3912971" align="alignleft" width="380"]

Facebook will expand to television. Reuters.[/caption]The redesigned product, called "Watch," will be available initially to a limited group in the United States on Facebook's mobile app, website and television apps, the company said. It will be available on platforms such as mobile, desktop and laptop, and TV."Shows are made up of episodes — live or recorded — and follow a theme or storyline. To help you keep up with the shows you follow, Watch has a Watchlist so you never miss out on the latest episodes," says the Facebook blog.The world's largest social network added a video tab last year, and it has been dropping hints for months that it wanted to become a source of original and well-produced videos, rather than just shows made by users.

Reuters reported in May that Facebook had signed deals with millennial-focused news and entertainment creators Vox Media, BuzzFeed, ATTN, Group Nine Media and others to produce shows, both scripted and unscripted.Daniel Danker, Facebook's product director, said in a statement on Wednesday, "We've learned that people like the serendipity of discovering videos in News Feed, but they also want a dedicated place they can go to watch videos."Facebook said the shows would include videos of the Women's National Basketball Association, a parenting show from Time Inc and a safari show from National Geographic. Facebook is already broadcasting some Major League Baseball games and that would continue, the company said.Eventually, the platform would be open to any show creator as a place to distribute video, the company said.Facebook will be using markers such as reactions to categorise shows. For instance, 'Most Talked About' section will have shows that spark off conversations; 'What's making people laugh' will include shows where people have used 'Haha' as a reaction and so on.The company, based in Menlo Park, California, faces a crowded market with not only traditional television networks but newer producers such as Netflix Inc and Alphabet Inc's YouTube as well as Twitter Inc and Snap Inc.With inputs from Reuters

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