Amazon Launches a Fire TV Channels App With 400+ Free Ad-Supported TV Channels (techcrunch.com) 30
Amazon has launched a new Fire TV Channels app, giving Fire TV customers access to over 400 free ad-supported TV (FAST) channels, including ABC News, CBS Sports, Fox Sports, MLB, Martha Stewart and more. From a report: Alongside the app launch, the company also announced new content providers, such as Variety, Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, GameSpot, Looper and Funny or Die, among others. Amazon will continue adding more FAST channels over time, the company wrote in the press release. First introduced in May, Fire TV Channels are available on Fire TV-branded smart TVs and streaming devices. The new app offers a single destination for users to quickly access thousands of live and on-demand titles across sports, news, entertainment, cooking, gaming and more. Customers can find the Fire TV Channels app via the "Your Apps and Channels" section, the Free icon in the navigation bar or labeled content rows throughout the Fire TV user interface. They also can ask Alexa to "Play Fire TV Channels." No downloads are required to watch FAST channels on Fire TV.
US only? (Score:2)
I take it this is USA only? Not for Europe or Canada?
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Yes USA only, had to read the article linked inside the article linked in the summary.
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Yes USA only, had to read the article linked inside the article linked in the summary.
Too bad. I hope it comes to Canada eventually.
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To be frank, those places have more regulations, so it takes longer to arrange.
Can you get them on... (Score:2)
a Kindle Fire?
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It's more easy to Kindle a Fire.
Roku (Score:2)
Does it work on a Roku?
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I was wondering the same thing about the Nvidia Shield. I don't see an app for this (as the summary mentioned).
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I was curious about this as well. Amazon owns Freevie, which already puts out a lot of free ad-supported content.
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Yes, and damn them, it's all good stuff.
ads make it not free (Score:2)
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Pretty much. I'm 100% done with ad-supported media at this point. Life is too short to watch a corporate jingle designed as both propaganda and advertisement. They're more odious to me now than the "classic jingles" in Demolition Man were.
The promise of targeted, relevant ads is apparently something that's fallen by the wayside.
Amazon more-or-less manages to do a decent job of that with their own ads targeting their own platform, but for anything not related to a physical item sale, the online ad experience
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I consume most of my Youtube content on a large Samsung TV - I've yet to find a solution that blocks the ads - so I pay for premium. However, if anyone can point me in the right direction then I will happily stop paying.
Re: ads make it not free (Score:2)
Firefox for Android + chromecast.l dongle.
You can cast your Android device screen to the CC. Including YouTube playing inside Firefox, full screen.
Works with CC audio too if you want to listen to music clips without viewing.
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Casting is a terrible interface: there's a reason why no one uses their phone as a replacement for the remote control.
Being able to use an ordinary remote is easily worth $10/month.
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That's clearly in the eye of the beholder. For the amount of Youtube I listen to/watch, casting is fine. I would not pay the $10/month, and if I had to, would just stop watching/listening to Youtube. Besides, Youtube premium doesn't solve the problem for listening to YT videos on a Chromecast audio device (and I have 15 of those). Only FF with adblocker + device audio casting solves that.
Not "free" (Score:1)
"Free" used to mean "no strings attached". Don't let them redefine "free" like this.
Re: Not "free" (Score:2)
Broadcast TV was always free, it just included commercials - how is this redefining that tradition?
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If ad-based web-TV were viable, then other entertainment sites would be doing it already. The fact it's uncommon suggests it's not economical. This implies Amazon is subsidizing it to get market share, and then later will start charging. Bait-n-Hook.
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> seeing the same crappy ads over and over.
Indeed! Why can't they mix it up? Ads are annoying, but the same ad over and over makes me want to karate my screen. Maybe it's a catch-22: they can't get enough advertisers onboard until they have sufficient viewers, and don't have sufficient viewers because they don't have enough advertisers, and thus repeat too many ads.
Back to the future ... (Score:3)
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A Self-Defeating Model (Score:2)
I never understood the point of advertising to the people who can't afford the ad-free service.
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The point of advertising is to generate demand (want). The more you can influence people to want your product, the more of your product you're going to sell.
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Right.. (Score:1)