A new report from The Information suggests that Amazon’s Fire TV video streaming device may be expanding its offerings by adding digital news content from several TV networks, accessible through a free app.
Amazon is likely taking its cues from Roku, a chief rival of Fire TV, which recently launched its own free, ad-supported news app called Roku Channel. Roku Channel currently includes programming from ABC News and Yahoo. Roku’s free live news content service that was added to the Roku Channel app in April 2018.
Amazon wants to launch its video news app sometime this year, giving its customers yet another source of free content. Amazon could even serve up adverts through this video news app, sort of like Roku Channel now does. Roku Channel can also be accessed on third-party devices, and the app itself even has add-on subscriptions like Showtime and Starz, all right inside the app itself.
Specific details about the company’s plans are still limited for now, but reports claim that Amazon has already approached a number of news organizations and Verizon (which owns Yahoo News and Finance), all with the goal of distributing their news and content through the app on its Amazon Fire TV streaming devices. The ultimate goal, according to the report, is to incorporate the news app into Alexa.