Amazon has partnered with NBCUniversal to beef up Fire TV's local news coverage, adding 11 NBC local channels and four Telemundo stations on the smart TV’s Amazon News app.
Fire TV users in the U.S. can now access NBCU’s 24/7 free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels on Amazon News, Fire TV’s free customizable news aggregator. The linear NBC channels will broadcast local news, breaking updates and weather forecasts from the following cities:
- NBC New York News
- NBC Los Angeles News
- NBC Chicago News
- NBC Philadelphia News
- NBC Dallas News
- NBC Washington, D.C. News
- NBC Boston News
- NBC Bay Area News
- NBC South Florida News
- NBC San Diego News
- NBC Connecticut News
New Telemundo channels, which provide regional news coverage in Spanish, include Noticias Telemundo Noreste, Noticias Telemundo California, Noticias Telemundo Texas and Noticias Telemundo Florida.
Additionally, NBC-owned stations are now available on Echo Show devices. Echo Show users can direct Alexa to play local news channels in 250 cities from more than 300 local news providers.
"We are thrilled to bring our NBC and Telemundo stations' local news, weather and community information to Fire TV audiences and Echo Show users," stated Meredith McGinn, EVP of diginets and local production at NBCUniversal Local. "Powered by our NBC and Telemundo stations in the country's top TV regions, our local news streaming channels deliver a premium news offering for English and Spanish-speakers, and we cannot wait to introduce our respected news brands to Amazon's streaming audiences."
Fire TV is the latest distribution touchpoint for NBC’s local news channels, which are also available on platforms like Peacock, Samsung TV Plus, The Roku Channel and Xumo Play. Apps for NBCU’s linear channels, including NBC, Bravo, NBC Sports, among others, are also on Fire TV devices.
Amazon of late has doubled down on its free content portfolio. Ahead of NewFronts, the company launched Fire TV Channels, a flagship FAST video aggregator. It aims to consolidate free channels Fire TV has added over the past year, spanning categories such as news, sports, music videos and more.
As for NBCU, earlier this year it stopped offering Peacock’s free tier to new customers. But the company has upped its advertising game on Peacock, recently introducing three new ad formats along with a shoppable TV integration.