Facebook Inc. is working on a video-focused app for set-top boxes, The Wall Street Journal reported Jan. 31, citing people familiar with the situation.

The project will reportedly complement Facebook's push into premium content distribution, as the social media giant is courting media entities for rights to long-form TV-quality content. This could include sports, entertainment and scripted shows created for Facebook's app.

Facebook is also eyeing advertising spots against such content to expand its advertising space beyond the news feed, according to the report. The company is shying away from pre-roll video ads similar to YouTube, and is instead testing mid-roll ads within live videos, with a view to expand them on all videos.

Alphabet Inc. unit Google Inc. owns YouTube.