Back in December, Amazon launched an ad-sponsored news app on its Fire TV platform. At that time, the app offered local news coverage in 12 cities, including New York, San Francisco, Dallas, Miami, and more. But today, Amazon says it’s expanding local news to “88 major cities” across the US, “including popular local stations from news distributors such as ABC Owned Television Stations, CBSN, TEGNA, Cox, The E.W. Scripps Company, and Altice USA.”
The news app now comes built into the Fire TV software, and local news gets its own tab in the app. “Amazon’s thoughtful expansion of local news content on its Fire TV devices is a strong testament to the power of local news to keep communities safe and informed through everything 2020 has brought us, and everything ahead in 2021,” Brian Lawlor, Scripps’ president of local media, said in today’s press release.
Local news is certainly crucial, but the news app also serves as an easy way to bring in extra advertising dollars. Amazon lets you customize the app to some extent to show your preferred news sources: “When you open the app for the first time, you can select the news that matters most to you from national and local sources. A custom playlist will be generated based on your selections.”
At its launch in December, the Fire TV news app already had ABC News Live, CBS News, Reuters, Cheddar, Entertainment Weekly, Black News Channel, and others on board for national news — but expanding local coverage to so many new locations should make the app feel a little fuller and more useful. You can also quickly access local news with an “Alexa, play local news” voice command on the Fire TV remote.
Roku has also made live news part of The Roku Channel, so both leading streaming hardware companies seem to think it’s an important add. The full list of cities where Amazon Fire TV now offers local news includes:
Atlanta, GA
Austin, TX
Bakersfield, CA
Baltimore, MD
Beaumont, TX
Billings, MT
Boise, ID
Boston, MA
Buffalo, NY
Butte-Bozeman, MT
Charlotte, NC
Chicago, IL
Cincinnati, OH
Cleveland, OH
College Station, TX
Colorado Springs, CO
Columbia, SC
Columbus, OH
Corpus Christi, TX
Dallas, TX
Davenport, IA
Dayton, OH
Denver, CO
Des Moines, IA
Detroit, MI
Fayetteville, AR
Fresno, CA
Fort Myers, FL
Grand Rapids, MI
Great Falls, MT
Green Bay, WI
Greensboro, NC
Harrisburg, PA
Hartford, CT
Helena, MT
Houston, TX
Huntsville, AL
Indianapolis, IN
Jacksonville, FL
Knoxville, TN
Lafayette, LA
Lansing-Jackson, MI
Las Vegas, NV
Lexington, KY
Little Rock, AR
Los Angeles, CA
Louisville, KY
Macon, GA
Memphis, TN
Miami, FL
Midland, TX
Minneapolis, MN
Missoula, MT
Moosic, PA
Nashville, TN
New Orleans, LA
New York, NY
Norfolk, VA
Omaha, NE
Orlando, FL
Philadelphia, PA
Phoenix, AZ
Pittsburgh, CA
Portland, ME
Portland, OR
Raleigh, NC
Richmond, VA
Sacramento, CA
Salt Lake City, UT
San Angelo, TX
San Antonio, TX
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
Santa Barbara, CA
Seattle, WA
Spokane, WA
St. Louis, MI
Tallahassee, FL
Tampa, FL
Temple, TX
Toledo, OH
Tucson, AZ
Tulsa, OK
Tyler, TX
Waco, TX
Washington, D.C.
West Palm Beach, FL