Amazon has let me know that Fire TV Cubes in the US and select countries will soon gain the ability to switch channels on the over-the-air tuner built into TVs. The Fire TV Cube has always had the ability to change channels on Cable and Sattelite boxes, but now this upcoming update expands that capability to also include changing channels from an HD antenna directly on your TV. Once the feature arrives, and is configured, you’ll be able to ask Alexa to change channels by saying “Alexa, tune to channel [#] on TV.” You’ll also be able to change channels by name by saying “Alexa, tune to [CHANNEL NAME] on TV.”
The new feature will be rolling out to Fire TV Cubes over the coming weeks. I don’t have it yet on any of my Fire TV Cubes, but it seems like you’ll need to go in and configure the feature before Alexa will understand the commands. I’m told that the “Add Equipment” menu under Settings > Equipment Control will gain a new “Live TV” option once the feature is available. That’ll be where you configure the Fire TV Cube to change OTA channels on your TV.
@AFTVnews
AFTVnews
Awesome. I was just about to ask about that. I swear there was a tease about something like that when the 2nd gen Cube was announced, and I was looking for that link. This makes streaming provider decisions easier.
One of my Fire TV Cube’s received the update last night, waiting on the other. Nice feature to have if you don’t have a recast.
So there won’t be a new generation of the Cube that is needed? It is an update to the current 2nd Gen Cube? I’m considering buying the cube now and want this feature so don’t know if I should buy now or hold off. Any advice?
Both the current 2nd-gen Fire TV Cube and the previous 1st-gen Fire TV Cube have been updated to have this feature.
I have a second gen cube and still have not received this update. What is the software version number?