Fire TV vs Android TV. Come on developers!

by PNGwolffman

I just plugged in my Fire TV to update it. I prefer my Shield TV, but it disappointed me to see how many apps the Fire TV has that isn't on Android TV. ABC, NBC, and NBC Sports all have Fire TV apps and have no excuse for not being on Android TV. CNN go and OAN are awesome news apps on Fire TV but absent on Android TV. PlayStation Vue is an awesome new service that would gain a bunch of new viewers if it released an Android TV app. I don't understand why developers are so slow to release apps especially since Android TV continues to pick up steam, especially developers that already have Fire TV apps (android under its skin). Here's a list of notable video and tv everywhere apps on Fire TV that aren't on Android TV. It would take developers minimal work to get these on Android TV.

ABC, NBC, NBC Sports, PlayStation Vue, CNN Go, OAN, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, Tubi TV, Watch TBS, Watch TNT, Watch TCM, Smithsonian Channel, A&E, History Channel, Hallmark Channel, Watch DIY, Watch Cooking, and Amazon Instant Video (yeah I'll throw that in as well)

I know many of these apps can be sideloaded over, but that's not my point. These need to be native through the Play Store. And here's a list of notable apps missing from both Fire TV and Android TV. We need to start holding these companies feet to the flame, putting pressure on them to support our platform.

SYFY Now, The CW, BeIn Sports, Sundance TV, USA Now, Discovery Go, Science Channel, AMC, Spike, Bravo, Adult Swim, Comedy Central, Nat Geo TV, Univision Now, Telemundo Now, Cartoon Network, Destination America, Esquire, Freeform, IFC, NFL Network, TLC, TV Land. FOX News Channel (no live feed), MSNBC, Animal Planet

Also Fire TV has Shovel Knight which is a ridiculously awesome 8bit game that combines elements of Super Mario Bros 3, Duck Tales, and Castlevania. It's a shame Android TV users aren't able to experience it.

NashGuy73

Yeah, I started a thread about streaming apps still missing from Android TV recently: https://www.reddit.com/r/AndroidTV/comments/5086ry/streaming_apps_still_missing_from_android_tv/

The good news is that Disney announced support for Android TV back in the spring and immediately brought Watch ESPN to the platform and said others like ABC, Disney Channel, Freeform, etc. are on the way. So hopefully those appear soon to coincide with the new fall TV season.

CNN also said back in April that CNNgo would appear on Android TV "soon". Heading into the homestretch of the presidential election would seem like a good time to debut the app if it's going to happen this year. (And if it doesn't happen this year, "soon" was a lie and maybe we'll never see it!)

NBC is the big holdout, although they did bring the NBC News app to Android TV back in May, so maybe we'll see some of their other major apps like NBC, NBC Sports, USA Now and Bravo Now before long.

It appears that HGTV's app is available on Android TV. https://shield.nvidia.com/apps/hgtv-watch

I do agree that it seems like there's no good excuse for developers with a Fire TV app to not also have an Android TV app as porting it over should require very little work. PlayStation Vue is a biggie and given that it launched on Fire TV, I'm hopeful we'll see it roll out this fall after the updated Nvidia Shield TV and new Mi Box both make a splash among cord-cutters.

arrowrand

Well, HGTV is available on Android TV. Those Disney apps were announced at IO as coming soon, but not yet.

Realize, Fire TV has more users. That's one factor here. Also, Amazon has been known to pay for exclusive apps.

Amazon is horrible company IMO, and TV apps have little to do with my opinion.

donnysaysvacuum

I'd say it's 50% lack of adoption, 50% lock in deals between Amazon and the other companies. Amazon has been more successful in pushing their fire TV devices at this point, but if android TV adoption picks up we could still see them. It is without a doubt not a technical limitation, it's just politics.

vw195

Also the TuneIn Pro app is on both, but on firetv it has favorites, whereas on AndroidTV it doesnt have favorites. such crap!

NashGuy73

Couple more corrections: the new Starz app (which is for standalone as well as traditional cable TV subscribers) is available for Android TV. And because it includes access to both Starz and Starz Encore (formerly "Encore") content, it is replacing the old Starz Play and Encore Play apps.

As for CBS News, it sure looks to me like the 24/7 live feed of their digital CBSN channel is available through the Android TV app: https://shield.nvidia.com/apps/cbs-news

Lastly, a few of the channels you correctly list as not being on Android TV actually don't have apps available for any TV-connected platform, only for mobile. Those include TBS, TNT, MSNBC, TV Land, etc. So at least Android TV isn't lagging as far behind as you might think...

Sottish

Do us all a favor and post the fire tv apks

stavencross

Any chance you could get those apks up? You can post them in a dropbox/Google Drive account and share them publicly then post the link

PNGwolffman

Thanks, I didn't notice HGTV was on Android TV. I'll remove it from the list. I wouldn't say Amazon is a horrible company. I understand the exclusivity business model very well as a video gamer, it increases product quality for the consumer. But I think streaming and channel app exclusivity only hurts customers and doesn't add any real value on the consumer side.

pawdog

It could be that Kodi also plays a factor. I wonder if some of these companies that have pressured Amazon to at least make it difficult for users to install Kodi are shunning Android TV because Google wont play ball. The thinking of some of these companies befuddles me.

getcashmoney

Nickelodeon is on Android TV.