Allen Media Group makes FAST Channel pact with Amazon’s Fire TV

Allen Media Group has entered into a FAST channel distribution pact with Amazon that will make its TV stations and Weather Channel en Español available for free through Amazon’s Fire TV and Echo Show devices.

The deal includes 21 television stations owned by Allen Media Broadcasting, including outlets in Honolulu (KITV), Flint, Michigan (WJRT), Fort Wayne, Ind. (WFFT), Tucson, Ariz. (KVOA) and more. It also includes Allen Media Group’s Local Now streaming service, which includes local news feeds from more than 200 markets in the US.

“Local Now FAST channels are powered by proprietary technology that populates daily news content from newsrooms across the country, aggregating 500,000 video stories per day. The channels are managed by Local Now’s newsroom, run by in-house journalists and technologists. Local Now partners with hundreds of news and entertainment programs,” said Allen Media Group.

CEO Byron Allen noted that the growth of the FAST channel universe has made it an important distribution platform for the company.

“We are excited to bring Amazon Fire TV subscribers free premium news, entertainment, sports, weather and more from Allen Media Group,” said Allen, founder, chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group. “Free access to Local Now, The Weather Channel en Español and our Allen Media Broadcasting television stations is an essential necessity and speaks to the core mission of Allen Media Group’s news and entertainment brands.”

Free, ad-supported linear streaming channels have exploded in recent years as the overall streaming market expands and the linear domain shrinks. Amazon’s Fire TV has been a major player in popularizing the concept of 24/7 free services built around genres and themes.