Amazon has confirmed that it is adding Matter Casting support to its Prime Video app, making it possible for users to cast content directly to nearby compatible devices. While similar in principle to Apple’s AirPlay and Google’s Chromecast, Matter Casting doesn’t come with many of the same device and OS restrictions.
As Matter Casting is an open standard, support can be enabled between any app and TV that both support the standard and have the feature enabled. Basically, regardless of whether you use an Android or iOS mobile device, this support allows casting of the Prime Video app to a Fire TV device.
That said, Matter Casting isn’t available on Fire TV devices just yet. For now, support has gone live for the company’s Echo Show 15 in what Amazon says “is an industry-first demonstration of implementing Matter Casting.” According to Amazon, the plan is to add support to compatible Fire TV devices in the coming months.
What is additional notable here is that this appears to be a fairly wide level of Fire TV support. In other words, smart TVs powered by Fire TV, including the newly-announced Panasonic models, will also support the ability to cast Prime Video content from iOS and Android devices. In other words, this isn’t being reserved just for Amazon’s own players and TVs.
What’s more, this is only the beginning. As well as announcing Matter Casting support for the Prime Video app, Amazon also confirmed that it is working with other streaming services to enable Matter Casting for their apps as well. The list of confirmed streaming services currently includes Plex, Pluto TV, Sling TV, Starz and ZDF.
“We are excited to work with Amazon to bring Matter Casting to the Starz app. Matter has been easy to integrate and will provide even more options for customers to enjoy our extensive collection of original series and popular films on their device of choice,” said Alison Hoffman, Starz President of Domestic Networks.
Matter Casting support for Starz and the other confirmed streaming services is expected to begin to become available later this year.
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