The new Amazon Fire TV Recast is going to be a big deal for cord-cutters. Actually, that whole over-the-air antenna space is a big deal for cord-cutters, and has been for a long time.
But it also plays a crucial role going forward. One of the biggest questions we get regards local channels. (And for a lot of folks, especially this time of year, college football.) While streaming services are getting better about carrying local channels, the simple fact is that you get more locally available channels with a decent over-the-air antenna. And once you've gotten past the initial hardware expenditure — you get get an indoor antenna for as little as $20, and a decent outdoor antenna for maybe twice that — the content is free.
Consider: I can get my local ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox affiliates on a streaming service. But I can get something like 30 locally available channels with an antenna. Do I watch them all? Nope. But I can if I want to. For free.
Anyway. The Recast is a big deal because, first, it's Amazon. And also because it makes it super easy to record OTA TV. It might not be the perfect all-in-one device — Tablo and HDHomerun still do great jobs. (Though if I were them I'd definitely be a little worried.) But it's Amazon. It's a big deal.
Andrew Martonik was at Thursday's Amazon event, and we caught up on the Amazon Recast on the latest episode of the CordCutters Podcast.
Here's what else you missed this week:
- One of the worst films ever made is now on YouTube. Enjoy. Or not.
- Pod Save America is coming to HBO.
- Veronica Mars will be back on Hulu in 2019!
- The full Mary Poppins trailer is just lovely.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender is hitting Netflix.
- Will Captain Marvel save us all? Let's hope so.
- Wait — OnePlus is making TVs? OK.
