Amazon Fire TV Adds Free Local News For 158 Cities Across The US

Amazon has greatly expanded the number of cities that have access to its free local news portal, bringing the number to 259 cities across the US. The Fire TV news portal makes it easy for anyone, particularly cord-cutters, to get local news broadcasts, providing regional weather information and other data relevant to their cities.

Amazon started offering live local news programming on its Fire TV platform last year, though the portal only launched for 12 cities. Earlier this year in March, the company expanded the coverage to 88 cities; this latest rollout adds another 158 cities across the US, bringing the total number of covered regions to 259.

The newly added cities include places like Wichita, Reno, Charleston, Tucson, Honolulu, Raleigh-Durham, and Lincoln, among others. The programming can be accessed through the Amazon News app, which is available on all of the Fire TV devices. The service is free and doesn't require a subscription.

Users who want to see their local news will need to select the "Local News" tab in the Amazon News app. The Fire TV platform should automatically detect the user's nearest metropolitan region, after which point the user can select which local news stations they want to add to the portal.

As expected, users can also pull up their local news on Fire TV using Alexa, including the remote that features a built-in microphone. Fire TV is only one of the multiple options for accessing local news without a TV antenna or pay-TV service. Plex, for example, has added some streaming features to its app, including a news portal.