Announced back at Facebook’s F8 developer conference earlier this year, Oculus TV is the company’s latest first-party app that pulls a number of flatscreen video options together under one roof. The app is now available for free on Oculus Go.

Displaying video on a virtual ‘180-inch’ TV, the company is billing its newest video streaming app as the “all-in-one living room solution,” giving Oculus Go users not only native support for live video from Pluto TV, Red Bull TV, and Facebook Video, but it also acts as a launcher for dedicated VR apps such as Netflix, Hulu, Showtime, Newsy, and Neverthink.

Facebook Watch also provides syndicated programming like The Daily Show and Stephen Colbert, and originals programming like Ball in the Family and Red Table Talk.

The company says in a blogpost that a greater expansion of the app’s channel options will be coming throughout the year, which includes ESPN, and other unnamed streaming apps and broadcast partners.

While offering a plush environment to kick back and watch traditional flatscreen media, Oculus TV definitely has a few pain points at launch, like the lack of support for YouTube, and no ‘void’ or comfort view settings that would allow you to watch TV while laying down. Since the app is a single user-only experience, you won’t be able to jump in with friends online either, which isn’t a giant drawback, but would certainly add to the app’s overall utility.

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Oculus Go Now Available from European & Canadian Retailers, In-store & Online

Oculus Go users have a few other options to consider for video watching however. Oculus Video, the company’s first video-viewing app created initially for Gear VR, plays host to local context viewing and livestreaming from Facebook 360 videos, Twitch, and Vimeo. There’s also a PLEX viewer so users can browse their home network’s Plex media server, and Bigscreen Beta, which allow you to mirror your PC’s monitor so you can watch whatever you like. Check out the entire list of

It’s currently uncertain when the Gear VR version of the app is headed down the pipeline. Oculus Go users can download Oculus TV for free here.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Adam Krause

    Can I be in the helmet cam of someone else doing something?

    • JJ

      No but soon in other apps thatll be a thing, but for now it is not.

  • JJ

    was on there last night and it seemed that most oculus tv apps were really just oculus apps and this fed the media into it. Aside from that there weren’t really that many good options and for the majority of them you need the FB tv app/account for the service like Comedy central. So if you don’t have a fb account you can’t play…

  • Trenix

    The resolution just isn’t there to even bother watching videos in VR, unless they’re meant for VR. Facebook doesn’t know what they’re doing. Most are smart enough to know that virtual reality will not replace their TV or computer screen anytime soon. Stick to gaming, which offers an experience that can’t be matched to desktop computers even with low resolution.