Amazon is adding local newscasts to the news app it launched earlier this year for its Fire TV devices.
Starting Friday, Amazon Fire TV users can stream on-demand local newscasts in 12 cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Miami, Tampa, Boston, San Francisco and Seattle.
To pull this off, Amazon has licensed content from Disney’s ABC owned-and-operated stations, Altice USA, ViacomCBS’ CBSN, the E.W. Scripps Company and Cox. Among stations included in the app are WABC-TV in New York, KIRO7 in Seattle and CBSN Chicago.
These local news feeds have been added to the national news channels that were already the lynchpin of the Amazon news app— ABC News Live, CBS News, Reuters, Cheddar, Entertainment Weekly, Black News Channel and more.
In touting its new on-demand programming, Amazon cites Nielsen figures suggesting that news consumptions is up 48% this year.
“There have been so many important events and stories in 2020 that have driven the news industry like never before; and we believe it’s more important than ever to provide free access to both local and national news for all our customers,” says Sandeep Gupta, Vice President of Amazon Fire TV, “Adding access to local news is the latest step in our commitment to helping our customers stay informed. We’ve been amazed by the popularity of Amazon’s news app and view local news as the next indispensable piece for our customers.”
