Earlier this week, Amazon announced the launch of Fire TV Channels, a free live TV hub that will work similar to Pluto TV and The Roku Channel by offering a huge number of free live channels. So what exactly is Fire TV Channels and how is it different from Amazon Freevee? So today we are going to answer these questions and more to help you understand this new free live TV service.
When will Fire TV Channels Launch?
Amazon already has free content on the Fire TV in the free content section at the top of the home screen. Starting this summer, this new Fire TV Channels destination will roll out to Fire TV devices putting content from over 400 content partners in a single place on the Fire TV home screen. The new Fire TV Channels area will replace the current free section on the Fire TV home screen but will add a ton more content.
No exact date has been announced for when Amazon will roll out Fire TV Channels other than sometime this summer.
What content will Fire TV Channels offer?
Some of this new free content is already on Amazon’s free tab including ABC News, CBS Sports HQ, FOX Sports, Major League Baseball, NBC News Now, America’s Test Kitchen, and Martha Stewart Living added to the new Fire TV free section.
“With the launch of Fire TV Channels, we’re doubling down on our free ad-supported TV (FAST) experience–which already includes News, Sports, Food & Cooking, Music Videos, Trailers, Gaming Videos, and Comedy. In the past six months alone, monthly hours streamed of this content has grown by 300%. When our customers love something, we invest in creating more ways to surprise and delight them,” said Charlotte Maines, director of Fire TV advertising, monetization, and engagement. “Fire TV is breaking barriers by living up to the ‘smart’ in ‘smart TV.’ With Fire TV Channels, we’re delivering a simple, category-based experience that makes it easy to discover what you want to watch while constantly expanding content offerings.”
The service will include live content, linear content, and video-on-demand.
Will Fire TV Channels offer cable networks like ESPN?
The Fire TV Channels will offer content from some cable networks, but it won’t be the version you see on cable TV or even live TV streaming services. Instead, look for channels to be similar to what you find on Pluto TV and The Roku Channel. There may be a CNN channel, but it will show a curated collection of stories instead of a live feed of CNN.
How is Amazon’s live TV hub free?
This service will be ad-supported and will build off of the success of Amazon Freevee.
Can I watch Fire TV Channels on Roku, Apple TV, etc, like with Freevee?
No word yet on if Amazon will make these new Fire TV Channels exclusive to Fire TV devices or if Amazon will build this into the Freevee app for all of its supported devices. For now, Amazon says this new Fire TV Channels section will be exclusive to Fire TV devices.
So why launch a free live TV service?
Free ad-supported services are some of the fastest-growing areas in cord cutting. Now it seems Amazon wants a more significant part of this market by expanding its efforts to offer free ad-supported content.
What do you think of Amazon’s new live TV streaming service?