Making a complete full stop to your switching of OTT apps, or between Fire TV device and traditional DTH or cable TV service for watching live TV, Amazon has launched Live TV feature on its Fire TV devices in India. The new feature is essentially a curation of Indian live TV channels from various OTT apps to a single place.
The new live TV integration on Fire TV devices makes it easy to find, browse and access live TV content from your subscribed OTT apps. For quick access, Fire TV devices get a new ‘Live’ tab on the navigation pane and an ‘On Now’ row on the home screen. Also, you get a full-fledged integrated channel guide of live TV channels, highlighting all programmes that are currently live on different channels.
Alexa, Live TV on Fire TV
As we said earlier, Amazon has essentially curate live TV channels from different OTT apps and then integrated on the ‘Live’ section in Fire TV. Initially, Amazon has partnered with SonyLIV, Voot, Discovery+ and NextG TV, whose live TV collection is sourced under the Live tab-pane. Within the next few weeks, live TV channels from Zee5 too will be integrated into the service.
With the integration in place, you can access popular live 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 and Discovery. Don’t forget you also have access to a vast number of regional live TV channels from different languages including Hindi, English, Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Besides you can choose live tv channels to watch based on genre including Entertainment, News, Music, Kinds, Devotional, Movies, Sports and Regional channels.
However, to watch these live tv channels and fully utilise all the service on Fire TV, you need to take an individual subscription to above said OTT apps. Only users who have downloaded and subscribed to any of the integrated OTT apps would see the ‘On Now’ row on their Fire TV home screen. This section highlights all programmes that are currently live on different TV channels. It would also highlight the real-time progress of any show running on a live TV channel via a red bar at the bottom of each thumbnail.
On the bottom of Live tab pane in Fire TV, you have access to the Fire TV channel guide, which is also accessible through the options row of the Live tab. The integrated channel guide offers a glimpse of past, currently running and upcoming shows on a channel. If you happen to buy the new Fire TV Lite, then the channel guide is easily accessible through the dedicated guide button on the Alexa Voice Remote Lite.
The best part of all this integration is that you could take the power of Alexa. You could ask Alexa to play a live TV channel. For example, you can simply say “Alexa, Watch MTV Beats”, and it will start live streaming of the channel.
Live TV feature on Fire TV
- Curated Live TV channels for different OTT apps.
- Easier to find, browse and access live content from subscribed OTT app.
- Watch all TV channels without switching inputs (Fire TV to DTH or cable TVs).
- Supports, live TV channels from SonyLIV, Voot, Discovery+, NextG TV and Zee5.
- Individual downloading and registration needed with each integrated OTT apps (one-time effort only).
- Free channels like DD channels and most of the news channels are available without any paid subscription.
- For paid channels, you will need to take individual paid subscription with each integrated OTT apps.
- Support for Alexa voice assistant to play Live TV channels.
- Fully integrated, channel guide to browse what’s on now of any TV channel.
The new Live TV section is rolling out to all existing Fire TV and Fire TV Edition customers in India. The ‘On Now’ row will be available to all existing customers once they download and subscribe to any of the integrated apps. For new customers of Fire TV, you will need to wait a few more weeks for the Live tab to get activated and simultaneously the ‘On Now’ row.