Amazon brings Alexa Announcements to Fire TV
Amazon has confirmed the introduction of Alexa Announcements to its Fire TV streaming devices in the UK.
The Announcements feature enables users to turn all the Alexa-enabled smart speakers in their home into a one-way intercom system and make announcements such as “dinner is ready”.
Amazon said the feature would be automatically enabled, but users could manage its settings in the Alexa smartphone app.
On Fire TVs, Announcements will include a visual prompt as well as an audio alert.
The technology giant has also confirmed that the official YouTube app has now launched on all remaining Fire TV devices – the first generation Fire TV Stick and the first three generations of Fire TV.
The video service recently returned to Amazon’s TV streaming devices after a long dispute between Amazon and YouTube owner Google was resolved.
The two companies had been at odds since late 2017 when Google claimed that the way Amazon was using YouTube on its Echo Show smart devices was against its terms of service.
Google also claimed there was a “lack of reciprocity” from Amazon over access to each other’s services, arguing Amazon did not offer a number of Google products to its own customers.
