The e-commerce portal Amazon today introduced a Live TV feature for Fire TV devices in India. This feature will let users access and discover live channels from their favourite content providers in the country. To provide this feature the company has introduced a dedicated a ‘Live’ tab on the navigation pane and an ‘On Now’ row on the Fire TV home screen for easier access to search, browse live content you’re your subscribed apps. In addition to this, the Fire TV users will also be able to integrate channel guides for these subscribed apps while the On Now row will highlight all the content that is live on various channels.
Amazon has started rolling out Live TV features for the existing Fire TV and Fire TV Edition users in India today and will be available over the next few weeks. The ‘On Now’ row is available to existing customers on the basis of their app downloads and subscription status. For new customers, the ‘Live’ tab will be available within a few weeks after the device is activated and the ‘On Now’ row will be accessible once they download and subscribe to the integrated apps.
“Since launching in India, Fire TV has been offering a vast selection of on-demand movies, TV shows, popular apps and features to customers. With Live TV integration, we are making this experience even better by providing instant access to popular, real-time content for our customers without having to switch inputs. It enriches the content experience by streaming live TV on the much-loved Fire TV interface, just by asking Alexa. Amazon will continuously expand this selection and offer the best of live TV experiences to our customers,” said Parag Gupta, Head of Amazon Devices, India.
At the initial stage, the company has collaborated with SonyLIV, Voot, Discovery+, NextG TV and Zee5 (coming soon) to integrate Live TV feature on the Fire TV device for better viewing experience. According to the company, the apps will collectively give customers access to popular channels including Sony SAB HD, Colors HD, SET HD, Nick HD+, Dangal, DD National, News18 India, MTV Beats HD, SONY BBC Earth HD, Mastii TV Music, Discovery and very soon to Zee TV, Zee Cinema and Zee News.
Those subscribers who have downloaded and subscribed to any of the integrated apps on their Fire TV devices will see the ‘On Now’ row on their home screen. A red bar at the bottom of each thumbnail will indicate the real-time progress of the show. Customers can also access their favourite channels by simply saying, for instance, “Alexa, Watch Colors HD”.
The new feature will give them access to a large selection of on-demand movies, TV shows, popular apps and features without having to switch inputs which can easily get into by Fire TV channel guide, accessible in the ‘Options’ row of the ‘Live’ tab. Whereas the newly launched Fire TV Lite customers can access it by going through the guide button on their Alexa Voice Remote Lite.
To recall Amazon Fire TV Lite was launched a few weeks back by the company. It is similar to the standard variant but at an affordable price. It has all the similar features to the Fire TV Stick It features HDR support with a new Alexa Voice Remote Lite that allows you to use voice to find, launch, and control content. It comes with improved voice controls. Just say, “Alexa, go to Live,” to jump to the Live TV guide, or say, “Alexa, go to Find,” to browse shows. In terms of pricing, it is now available with a price tag of Rs 2,999.
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