The 'Live' Section on Amazon Fire TV has been updated to include additional streaming services, namely OTT options like Sling TV, YouTube TV, and Hulu Live TV. Through this portal, users are able to find apps that provide access to live television content, building upon the on-demand services that largely dominate the streaming market. It may be a few days before users see all three services.
HBO Max may be launching today, but there's bad news if you're using two of the most popular platforms for streaming TV and movies at home. Those with an Amazon Fire TV device or TV, or a Roku device or TV, are discovering today that they're not invited to the HBO Max party.
On Tuesday, Amazon announced that it is adding a 'Free' section to the top bar on the Fire TV interface, making it easy for users to find free content from a variety of sources. The content featured in the new menu is curated, according to Amazon, which says that users will find a mixture of movies, TV shows, news, and other ad-supported streaming options.
The NCAA has announced that its March Madness app, which enables basketball fans to watch their favorite games over the Internet, has released one of its best features for the Fire TV and Android TV platforms. With this new feature, fans can watch two different games at the same time, something that was previously limited to only the Apple TV version of the streaming app.
In late 2019, Hulu decided to split their app into two versions. They called these versions "Classic Hulu app" and "the latest Hulu app" in support documentation. Every device Hulu supports for the "latest" Hulu app will have access for years to come, more than likely. This includes Apple TV (4th gen and later), Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 (not including live programming), Nintendo Switch, Windows 10 devices, Echo Show, Chromecast, and a variety of others. What we're interested in here is the latest guidance from Hulu on devices on which "New" Hulu will and will not work.
The Peloton App was given a new edition today for Amazon TV devices. This app will be released on Amazon Fire TV streaming devices and Fire TV Edition smart TVs exclusively. That's not to say that there won't ever be a Peloton app for other Android devices or Apple TV, but for now it's exclusive - it's just on Amazon Fire TV devices right out the gate.
Amazon may have had a great gush of new products last month, but it's back on the announcement train today with the Fire TV Blaster, an IR blaster for Alexa. It'll give Amazon's assistant greater control over your home entertainment devices, such as being able to power on TVs, projectors, audio systems, and more.
Earlier this year, Amazon announced that its Amazon Music service was now free (with advertisements) for anyone who owned a smart speaker featuring its Alexa personal assistant. Amazon has expanded that perk to its wider ecosystem, namely the Fire TV platform, as well as on Android and iOS using the Amazon Music app. Users aren't required to have an Amazon Music Unlimited or Amazon Prime membership.
Amazon has launched a news app for Fire TV, making it easier for its home entertainment customers to watch news broadcasts from a variety of sources. Simply called the News app on Fire TV, this new offering joins the previously launched news aggregator on Plex and similar offerings from competing companies. The News app is free for Amazon's Fire TV users.
YouTube TV is getting a pretty major expansion today, as it's coming to a wide array of Amazon Fire TV devices. With the regular NFL season in the midst of its 4th week and both the NBA and NHL regular seasons about to begin, this is a big move for YouTube TV, as Amazon's Fire TV devices are some of the more popular streaming devices around.
It might not be a known fact but Amazon is actually an Android manufacturer. Not the traditional kind but its Fire line of devices, particularly the tablets, are based on a Google-less form of Android. Unlike other OEMs, though, it sells its Fire hardware almost at a loss. That's because it has a different strategy, one that focuses more on services and features for those services, as demonstrated by the new Live tab for Fire TV.
Amazon has announced the first Fire TV Edition smart TV that features Dolby Vision HDR, offering consumers what Amazon calls 'ultra-vivid' image quality. As with existing Fire TV Edition smart TVs, the new 4K model offers the Fire TV experience without the need for a separate stick or box, as well as integration with over-the-air television.