Amazon Fire TV just got a big upgrade for the cord cutter

Amazon Fire TV just got a big upgrade for the cord cutter

The Amazon Fire TV platform continues to adapt to a world where live TV streaming apps are increasingly important to cord cutters. Today, the company announced enhanced integration of Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and Sling TV.

Content from these services will now appear more prominently in three places: the Live tab, the On Now column on the primary home screen, and the multi-app channel guide. A demo video of the changes follows.

You will also see that Sling content will also appear in the Recent row of the main home screen, allowing you to easily jump back to what you were previously watching.

As for when these changes will come, YouTube TV is scheduled to arrive today (July 8) and Hulu with Live TV integration the following week; Sling's integration began earlier this year.

These are not the first services to improve the Amazon Fire TV's home screen placement; Philo, Pluto TV, and a la carte Prime Video channels have been promoted in these sections in the past.

My long-term complaint about Amazon's proprietary operating system is the dominance of Amazon's own services, both here and on the Fire tablet and Kindle e-reader. If more services gain a bigger foothold on the Fire TV home screen, it would go a long way to making these streaming devices feel as if they are the gateway to the entire streaming world, not just the part Amazon dominates.

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