Amazon announced Monday the launch of its 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.
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.
As FAST offerings see a surge in popularity among cord-cutters looking for an alternative to paid streaming, Amazon continues to expand its efforts in the space.
The Fire TV Channels app joins Freevee, the Amazon-owned free streaming service that experienced the highest viewership growth in the first half of 2023 compared to rivals like Pluto TV, Tubi, the Roku Channel and Crackle. According to Samba TV, Freevee was up 11% year-over-year.
Amazon recently announced that it would be rolling out hundreds of Amazon Original series to Freevee along with 23 new FAST channels from Warner Bros. Discovery and MGM.
Originally published at techcrunch.com