Roger Fingas
Amazon is reportedly looking to launch a free, ad-supported video service for Fire TV owners separate from Prime Video, potentially adding a competitive edge against the Apple TV while fueling a rapidly growing ad business.
The service, tentatively named "Free Dive," is being developed by the company's IMDb division, according to sources for The Information. Studio negotiations are in progress to secure licenses for older TV shows.
The service may be most similar to the Roku Channel. While the latter offers a relatively small on-demand selection, it's also available to anyone with a Roku device, supported by regular ad breaks. Roku has even announced plans to bring it to the web and non-Roku devices.
Amazon sells three Fire TV devices: a standard 4K dongle, the cheaper 1080p "Stick," and the recent Fire TV Cube, which includes an integrated Alexa speaker and can turn some devices both on and off, unlike most streaming accessories, which can only turn things on.
There's no equivalent of the Roku Channel or "Free Dive" on the Apple TV. It is possible to find some free content on iTunes, but this is scattered about and most likely to be free pilot episodes of TV shows.
Apple is known to be working on a slate of original high-budget TV shows for 2019. These may be gated behind a paid subscription.
Andrew Orr
Malcolm Owen
Christine McKee
Andrew O'Hara
7 Comments
Does this mean you could access this “channel” without an amazon prime subscription?
in Australia the FTAs have an app called Freeview on numerous devices, including iOS devices and the Apple TV with ad supported content.
AI: I think most of us could not care less about Amazon further polluting the Internet.
So.... having a "free" video service supported by ads is considered a competitive advantage. But..... Spotify having a "free" music streaming service while Apple does not and Apple's growing paying subscriber base is considered an Apple advantage. Why the difference, AI? Why? Why? Why?
I wonder how this compares to the ads I currently get on my paid prime subscription! I've complained several times about paying for a service then being bombarded by unskippable adverts - they just says sorry and give me another month free. adverts appear again the next day.