Sources: Facebook is working on a new TV device that can stream video and make video calls using its Portal tech, and has approached Netflix, Disney, and others
Facebook has approached Netflix, Disney and other media companies about putting their streaming services on a new Facebook device …
Context & Ripple Effects
This July 2019 report closes a loop that started with Cheddar's scoop on "Ripley," Facebook's hybrid video chat/TV box, and continued when Recode reported talks with HBO, Showtime, and Starz about selling their streaming services on Facebook's platform. The new detail is that the pitch now runs through Portal technology — Facebook repurposing its video-calling hardware line as the base for a living-room device — and targets the biggest streamers directly: Netflix and Disney.
The approach paid off on Facebook's own timetable: by September the company had shipped the Portal TV accessory at $149, and a year after that it added native Netflix support to Portal TV. That sequence makes this report the hinge between Portal-as-gadget and Portal-as-streaming-platform.
First-order effects
- Netflix and Disney face a concrete distribution decision: whether to put their services on a camera-equipped Facebook device, lending credibility to hardware whose main selling point so far is video calling.
- Facebook gets a second use case for the Portal line beyond calls — streaming — which matters because a $149 TV accessory needs recurring engagement, not one-time novelty, to justify shelf space.
Second-order effects
- If Netflix or Disney sign on, rival media companies face pressure to follow rather than cede the Facebook install base, repeating the HBO/Showtime/Starz dynamic from the earlier platform talks at bigger scale.
- Media companies gain an extra bargaining chip: access to Facebook's device becomes something they trade against better terms elsewhere, and Facebook's willingness to court them shows how dependent new hardware entrants are on licensed catalogs they don't own.
Third-order effects
- The pattern points toward TV hardware consolidating around whoever aggregates licensed apps — Facebook entering a market where the moat is content relationships, not silicon — while media companies hold the leverage over which devices get first-class support.
- For Portal specifically, the structural question the corpus leaves open is whether a calling-first brand can become a mainstream TV endpoint once Netflix-class apps arrive, or whether it stays a niche communications accessory with streaming bolted on.
The trend: Facebook is converting Portal from a standalone video-calling gadget into a living-room streaming platform assembled through one-by-one licensing deals with major media companies.