Amazon Fire TV Live Guide YouTube TV, Hulu – Adding Lists from Various
3 min read
Among the cord-cutters, Amazon is adding a program list for YouTube TV and Hulu + live TVs to the platform’s live TV discovery features.
Content from Google’s YouTube TV and Disney’s Hulu will blend directly into Fire TV’s Live tab, into Nao Rows, and into a multi-app channel guide, which can be accessed with Amazon’s Alexa Voice Assistant.
The list of YouTube TVs will be available on Fire TV from Wednesday (July 8) and program information from Hulu + Live TV will be available in the coming weeks. Those joined more than a dozen applications woven into Fire TV’s live TV features, including Dish Network’s Sling TV, which began airing earlier this year on Fire TV, as well as Viacom CBS’s Pluto TV, Philo and Prime video channels (such as HBO) and Shotime.
“We believe that the future of integrated TV is one that brings live content to the forefront, facilitates streaming and OTT landscapes, and enables consumers to easily discover the programs they want to watch,” said Sandeep Gupta, VP of Fire TV. “What we’re focused on is how to be just a sea of app experience.”
According to Amazon, Fire TV’s Live tab has become the second most visited destination in the device’s user interface after the home screen. On average, live streaming apps on live TV have spent more time than the number of apps and active subscribers seen after integrating into live TV discovery features.
Gupta says most of the live TV streaming apps have busy subscribers, who spend 40 hours a month on streaming video. During the COVID-19 stay-at-home-quarantine, Fire TV saw a 100% increase in the number of subscribers to live TV applications – and 50% more, according to Amazon.
“Live TV is a moment,” Gupta says.
Fire TV only displays a list of programs for applications that subscribers can subscribe to (or access for additional charges, such as Pluto TV). Users can unlock additional Alexa functionality by logging in to any integrated live streaming application or channel by giving commands such as “Alexa, Open” from the Alexa Voice Remote, Fire TV Cube built-in or blocked echo device. Tune in ”and change the channel [name of channel]. “
In the United States, Fire TV now provides live listings for Amazon’s Twitch, Prime Video Channel, and live events (NFL’s “Thursday Night Football,” HBO, Showtime, Starz, Cinemax, MLBTV, PGA Tour Live, NBA League Pass), Pluto TV, Philo, Red Bull TV, Sling TV and YouTube TV (including Hulu + Live TV in the next few weeks).
CEO Andrew McCallum said that the low-cost Internet TV service that spreads sports and broadcast networks has nearly tripled its active user base in Fire TV Pop, since its listing was integrated into Fire TV’s discovery feature in early 2019, CEO Andrew McCallum said.
“It’s hard to separate a product enterprise, but we’ve seen a significant increase in Fire TV,” McCallum said, due to live integration. The partnership benefits both parties, he said: “Amazon wants to have a product where people can use the best apps and entertainment and we want our people to use our app as much as possible.”
