Quick Read
• Amazon has developed a new protocol called Matter Casting that will allow phone and tablet users to send video to Fire TV devices.
• The protocol functions similar to Apple’s Airplay and Google Chromecast.
• Prime Video will support Matter Casting today, as will the Echo Show 15 smart screen; other services and devices are coming soon, Amazon says.
Amazon unveiled a new casting protocol that will make it easier for phone and tablet users to send video and other multimedia to smart displays and TVs.
The protocol, called Matter Casting, was unveiled Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show. It functions similarly to Apple’s Airplay and Google’s Chromecast, and is intended to help make video-centric devices like streaming media sticks and smart TVs more interoperable with phones, tablets and smart speakers.
For years, users of Amazon’s Fire TV operating system have been unable to natively cast video content from their phones and tablets to Fire TV-powered devices. While Fire TV uses a forked version of Google’s Android operating system (at least for the time being), Fire TV devices don’t include Google’s Chromecast technology, as native Android TV-powered devices do.
Matter Casting will help fill that void by giving smartphone and tablet users a way to beam video content to their Fire TV sticks and smart TVs without a convoluted workaround. It will also work with Amazon’s line-up of Echo smart screens and displays.
On Tuesday, Amazon said Matter Casting is available right now for its Prime subscribers who have Echo Show 15 devices. For the moment, Matter Casting only works with content from Prime Video, which is included as part of a customer’s Prime membership, but support for other apps and devices will be coming by the end of the year.
Some other third parties that will integrate Matter Casting into their streaming services include Paramount Global’s Pluto TV, German public broadcaster ZDF, Dish Network’s Sling TV and the multiplex movie brand Starz.
“We are excited to work with Amazon to bring Matter Casting to the Starz app,” Alison Hoffman, the President of Domestic Networks at Starz, said in a statement. “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.”
Matter Casting will be offered on other Fire TV and Echo devices in the coming months, Amazon said, including a new line of Panasonic-brand Fire TV sets that the company also announced on Tuesday.
