If you are an Amazon Fire TV user who broadcasts live TV on your device, your experience will soon be more enjoyable.
Amazon recently announced that it has rolled out an update that supports some of the most popular live streaming options for its channel aggregator, available through the Fire TV menu.
This means that YouTube TV, Sling TV and Hulu Live subscribers can now find all their content in one place on their Amazon streaming device. Previously, you would have to log into each downloaded streaming app to find the content.
4 things you should know about the Amazon Fire TV live tab
The Amazon Fire TV Live tab is not new, but the addition of these top TV streaming sources may appeal to new users. We are here to help.
I successfully tested the new functionality with YouTube TV through the Amazon Fire TV Stick on July 9, 2020.
1. How to find it
Many of your live streaming services are now accessible through the Live tab in the Amazon Fire TV menu, which you’ll find at the top of your TV screen (screenshot below).
In Fire TV Stick, the default menu option is “Start”. The Live tab is just to the right of the Home tab:
As you can see from the screenshot, there are streaming subscriptions, like Philo, that are already built into this ecosystem. You can add selected free streaming services like Pluto TV to your custom live channel menu.
2. How to use it
Once on the Live tab, you can browse the live TV content of all your connected streaming subscriptions in one place.
For this to work properly, you need to make sure you’ve entered your login credentials for your live streaming services on your Amazon Fire TV device. The device should automatically sync channels to its live tab. But if you’re having trouble accessing your content, you can manually sync through the options menu.
As you can see in the screenshot below, the new feature offers a way to quickly browse all of your content by category.
Once you make a selection from the menu, you will be directed to the application that contains content. For example, selecting content from an ESPN broadcast directs me to the YouTube TV app, because that’s where that channel is located on my device.
Previously, you would have had to browse each application independently. Therefore, this definitely saves time if you use more than one live streaming app.
3. There is a channel grid
If you don’t like browsing by category and prefer a more traditional cable TV feel, Amazon has you covered.
Fire TV offers a channel grid function on the Live tab. It allows you to see what is being transmitted by channel, time and date. This allows you to choose from each of your live broadcast channels at once. It also tells you what each channel plans to broadcast, up to two weeks in the future (when that data is available).
4. You can adjust settings for favorite channels and parental controls
While much of the Amazon Fire TV live tab is curated through automation, it still has some control through the Live TV options screen.
Here you can do things like:
- Edit your favorite channels: If you have some channels that you access most frequently, you can mark them as “favorites” and they will appear more prominently within the ecosystem of the Live tab.
- Manage channels: If you are like me, you may have access to various streaming services. And sometimes those services offer many channels that you will probably never see. Through this feature, you can manually add or subtract the channels you see in Amazon’s aggregation from your streaming options.
- Parental controls: With a couple of little ones at home, I understand the value of having parental controls right there on the Live tab. You can request a PIN be entered before accessing any content from the channel grid on the Live tab. For example, if there is an R-rated movie on one of your streaming channels, your child won’t be able to access it without your five-digit code.
- Synchronization sources: As mentioned earlier in the article, this is where you can add a streaming service to the Live tab menu if the automated process doesn’t work.
Final thought
Adding YouTube TV, Sling TV, and Hulu Live to the Live tab will produce a better user experience on Fire TV devices.
As more consumers switch from traditional cable to broadcast services, the ability to access all live subscription channels in one place should help ease the transition.
