Looking for a quick hit of live–and free–streaming goodness on your Echo Show? Now you can channel surf on your Amazon smart display just by asking Alexa.
As Amazon promised during its big hardware event back in September, live streaming Fire TV Channels have made their way to Echo Show devices, allowing you to tee up any of Amazon’s 400-plus linear and ad-supported streaming stations, Cord Cutters News reports.
Just say “Alexa, watch TV” or “Alexa, open Fire TV Channels” on your Echo Show 5, 8, 10, or 15, and you’ll jump directly to the Fire TV Channels interface.
This news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart speakers.
From there, you can tap the All Channels button to browse the roughly 400 live streaming channels in Amazon’s Fire TV Channels hub, from categories including News, Sports, Cooking, and Entertainment. Once you pick a category, you can scroll through related channels along the bottom of the screen.
You can tap the “heart” icon to add a Fire TV channel to your list of favorites, or tap All Channels to browse categories.
You can tap the “heart” icon to add a Fire TV channel to your list of favorites, or tap All Channels to browse categories.
Ben Patterson/Foundry
You can tap the “heart” icon to add a Fire TV channel to your list of favorites, or tap All Channels to browse categories.
Ben Patterson/Foundry
Ben Patterson/Foundry
To jump to a particular channel, you can say (for example) “Alexa, watch CBS Sports HQ.”
You can tap a “heart” icon to add a particular channel to a list of favorites, while a “For You” category gathers clips from channels you’ve previously watched. You can also dip into video playlists for each category, such as “Trending Recipes” or “Martha Stewart” in the Cooking section.
Up until now, Fire TV Channels has only been available on Amazon’s Fire TV players, as Cord Cutters News notes.
But Amazon’s FAST (short for “free ad-supported streaming television”) hub has always seemed like a natural fit with the manufacturer’s Echo displays, and Amazon telegraphed its intention to add Echo support for its live streaming channels during its annual hardware unveiling in September.
Amazon launched its Fire TV Channels hub back in May, and it includes more than 400 free and ad-supported streaming stations from the likes of ABC, CBS, Fox, Martha Stewart, USA Today, NHL, Xbox, Tastemade Travel, and TMZ.
Of course, you could watch live streaming video on Echo Show devices before the arrival of Fire TV Channels, namely via Hulu + Live TV and Tubi.
Like Fire TV Channels, Tubi, is a free ad-supported streaming service, while Hulu + Live TV starts at $75.99 a month.
Author: Ben Patterson, Senior Writer
Ben has been writing about technology and consumer electronics for more than 20 years. A PCWorld contributor since 2014, Ben joined TechHive in 2019, where he covers smart speakers, soundbars, and other smart and home-theater devices. You can follow Ben on Twitter.