Technologies, Media and Broadcasting

Amazon Upgrades Fire TV with Third Generation Fire TV Cube and New Alexa Voice Remote Pro

Amazon Upgrades Fire TV
Amazon   announced upgrades to its industry-leading Fire TV family, including the next generation Fire TV Cube—Fire TV’s most powerful streaming media player yet—and Alexa Voice Remote Pro, a premium remote with an all-new Remote Finder and customizable buttons.“The all-new Fire TV Cube is a big step forward for Fire TV—it’s the fastest, most powerful, and most versatile streaming media player we’ve ever made,” said Daniel Rausch, vice president of Amazon Entertainment Devices and Services. “This Fire TV Cube’s powerful processing and Wi-Fi 6E support deliver an incredibly smooth streaming experience, and HDMI input means you can instantly extend the simplicity of Fire TV and hands-free Alexa control to your home entertainment system. With Alexa Voice Remote Pro, we’re making it easy to find a misplaced remote and get to the apps and content you love.”

Fire TV Cube—Enhanced Power and Speed
The third generation of Fire TV Cube is Amazon’s best Fire TV streaming media player yet, with a new octa-core 2.0 GHz processor that makes it 20% more powerful than the previous generation. The supercharged processor increases app launch speeds, making this Fire TV’s smoothest and most fluid streaming media player experience to date. Fire TV Cube can be controlled entirely hands-free with Alexa and includes support for cinematic 4K Ultra HD, Dolby Vision, HDR, and immersive Dolby Atmos audio. Plus, it offers a range of new features, including an HDMI input port, Wi-Fi 6E support, and Super Resolution Upscaling.

An industry-first, Fire TV Cube includes an HDMI input port, giving customers the flexibility to bring their entertainment devices together by directly connecting compatible cable boxes, Blu-ray players, and more devices. Now, customers can just say, Alexa, tune to ESPN on cable” instead of manually changing inputs to get to the content they want. With Fire TV Cube, customers can easily control live TV, cable boxes, and on-demand streaming via Fire TV’s Alexa Voice Remote or hands-free with Alexa. Fire TV Cube also features an additional USB port for easy connection to compatible webcams for video calling with Alexa Communications—simply say, Alexa, call mom” to connect with family or friends from the largest screen in the home.

Fire TV Cube is the first streaming media player in the industry with Wi-Fi 6E support, giving customers with a compatible router the ability to enjoy a smooth entertainment experience with less interference from other Wi-Fi devices in the home. It also features a new Ethernet port if you need a wired network connection.

New to Fire TV Cube is Super Resolution Upscaling, which provides enhanced picture quality by seamlessly converting HD content into 4K for greater detail, contrast, and clarity. With Super Resolution Upscaling, content—from movies originally made in HD to grainy family photos—will look sharper on a 4K display.

Alexa Voice Remote Pro—Remote Finder Feature, Customizable Buttons, and Backlighting
Alexa Voice Remote Pro is a new premium remote built to help customers spend more time streaming and less time searching for the remote. It introduces a Remote Finder feature to help customers find misplaced remotes more easily. Simply say, Alexa, find my remote” or use the dedicated Remote Finder button in Fire TV app, and Alexa Voice Remote Pro’s built-in speaker will emit an audible ring to attract your attention.

Two new customizable buttons make getting to your favorite content and Alexa commands quicker and easier. You can personalize your remote by programming these buttons to create one-touch shortcuts to favorite apps, channels, and anything Alexa can do. For example, you could choose to program a button to have Alexa dim the lights, check the weather, or start an Alexa Routine for movie night. Alexa Voice Remote Pro also includes motion-activated backlighting that automatically illuminates the buttons when the remote is picked up in low-light settings.

Alexa Voice Remote Pro is compatible with most Fire TV streaming media players, Amazon Fire TV smart TVs, and Smart TVs with Fire TV built-in.

Accessible and Sustainable
Fire TV Cube supports Audio Streaming for Hearing Aids (ASHA), allowing customers to directly connect compatible Bluetooth hearing aids. Both Fire TV Cube and Alexa Voice Remote Pro’s product and packaging are designed with sustainability in mind. Fire TV Cube is independently certified to use less energy and cause fewer of the emissions that contribute to climate change, earning the ENERGY STAR certification. As a part of Amazon’s commitment to helping preserve the natural world, Fire TV Cube and Alexa Voice Remote Pro both qualified for the Climate Pledge Friendly badge by achieving the Carbon Trust’s Reducing CO2 certifications, showing that their carbon footprints have been reduced year over year. To achieve this, both products used more-sustainable materials and implemented design changes to reduce their overall lifetime energy consumption. Fire TV Cube and Alexa Voice Remote Pro’s packaging is 100% recyclable in the U.S., made of wood fiber-based materials from responsibly managed forests or recycled sources.

Pricing and Availability
The all-new Fire TV Cube is available for pre-order today in the United States for $139.99. Alexa Voice Remote Pro is available for pre-order today on Amazon.com for $34.99 in the United States. To see which Fire TV devices are compatible with Alexa Voice Remote Pro, check the compatibility checker.Amazon today also announced the new Fire TV Omni QLED Series with the new Fire TV Ambient Experience.

About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Amazon strives to be Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company, Earth’s Best Employer, and Earth’s Safest Place to Work. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Career Choice, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, Alexa, Just Walk Out technology, Amazon Studios, and The Climate Pledge are some of the things pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

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TelevisaUnivision and Charter Communications Announce Strategic Renewal, Expanding Distribution of Linear Networks

Charter Communications | January 25, 2024

TelevisaUnivision and Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR) today announced a multi-year agreement to extend and expand their partnership. This agreement provides Spectrum customers with continued access to the most-watched Spanish-language news, sports and entertainment programming in the country. The modern deal framework is designed to enhance Spectrum's ability to serve the massive U.S. Hispanic audience with expanded access to an unprecedented amount of Spanish-language content. As part of the arrangement, TelevisaUnivision will create a new ad-supported premium subscription version of ViX, set to launch later this year. It will be available at no additional cost to Spectrum customers who receive TelevisaUnivision channels as part of their Spectrum TV Select or Mi Plan Latino packages. ViX's "Premium with Ads" offering will give viewers access to the entire ViX Premium content offering, including exclusive original series, novelas, comedies, movies, thousands of live exclusive soccer matches and tens of thousands of hours of library content with a moderate advertising load. The combination of ViX's premium streaming programming with TelevisaUnivision's market leading linear channels will create an unmatched Spanish-language content offering available to Spectrum customers at no incremental cost. In addition to giving Spectrum customers access to the forthcoming ad-supported premium version of ViX, the agreement enhances Charter's flexibility to offer its video customers high-value linear and over-the-top TV packages. TelevisaUnivision's U.S. channels will be included as an integral launch partner in a new, innovative, low-cost Spanish-language internet-delivered video package that Spectrum will launch in the coming months. "We're pleased to enter into an innovative deal with Charter that underscores a shared commitment to the growing Hispanic market and prioritizes their needs and interests, ensuring TelevisaUnivision's leading content remains available to viewers for years to come," said Mike Angus, Executive Vice President, Global Distribution and Streaming Partnerships at TelevisaUnivision. "This deal demonstrates the value we can deliver to our partners and consumers by continuing to invest in both the linear and streaming platforms to create a complementary Spanish-language content ecosystem." "We appreciate TelevisaUnivision's willingness to fully support our new distribution framework, which is good for customers and a significant step forward for the video ecosystem," said Tom Montemagno, Executive Vice President, Programming Acquisition for Charter. "With this agreement, our customers will continue to enjoy access to TelevisaUnivision's extensive Spanish-language programming, including entertainment and live sports, across multiple platforms. This furthers our goal of providing value to customers by including streaming apps with Spectrum services." Spectrum provides customers with access to TelevisaUnivision's networks, including Univision, UniMás, Galavisión, TL Novelas, TUDN, FOROtv, Bandamax, De Película, De Película Clasico, Telehit and Telehit Música. About TelevisaUnivision TelevisaUnivision is the world's leading Spanish-language media company. Powered by the largest library of owned Spanish-language content and a prolific production capability, TelevisaUnivision is the top producer of original content in Spanish across news, sports and entertainment verticals. This original content powers all of TelevisaUnivision's platforms, which include market-leading broadcast networks Univision, Las Estrellas, Canal 5 and UniMás, and a portfolio of 38 cable networks, which include TUDN, Galavisión, Distrito Comedia and TL Novelas. The company also operates the leading Mexican movie studio, Videocine, and owns and operates the largest Spanish-language audio platform in the U.S. across 35 terrestrial stations and the Uforia digital platform. TelevisaUnivision is also the owner of ViX, the largest Spanish-language streaming platform in the world. For more information, please visit televisaunivision.com. About Charter Communications Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) is a leading broadband connectivity company and cable operator serving more than 32 million customers in 41 states through its Spectrum brand. Over an advanced communications network, the Company offers a full range of state-of-the-art residential and business services including Spectrum Internet®, TV, Mobile and Voice. For small and medium-sized companies, Spectrum Business® delivers the same suite of broadband products and services coupled with special features and applications to enhance productivity, while for larger businesses and government entities, Spectrum Enterprise provides highly customized, fiber-based solutions. Spectrum Reach® delivers tailored advertising and production for the modern media landscape. The Company also distributes award-winning news coverage and sports programming to its customers through Spectrum Networks.

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