Amazon Announces AirPlay-Like Matter Casting on Fire TV

Amazon revealed at CES today that it has created its own alternative to Apple Airplay and Google Cast for its Fire TV platform based on the Matter smart home standard. Matter Casting is available starting today on Amazon’s Fire TV-powered Echo Show 15 smart screen, and it’s coming to other Fire TV devices in the coming months, including Fire TV smart TVs.

As of today, the Prime Video app on iOS and Android is the only streaming app that supports Matter Casting on the Echo Show 15, but more are coming. “We’re working with Plex, Pluto TV, Sling TV, STARZ, and ZDF to add Matter Casting support later this year,” Amazon said today.

Amazon is one of the biggest supporters of the Matter standard alongside Google and Apple, but it’s in these companies’ best interest to continue investing in their own proprietary protocols for casting content on other devices. As an example, if you’re in the Apple ecosystem, AirPlay receiver devices now include the Apple TV, the HomePod, and Macs running macOS Monterey or newer.

In addition to this new Matter Casting feature, Amazon also announced at CES that Panasonic will start using Fire TV in place of its own “My Home Screen” interface on some of its new smart TVs coming in 2024. The company’s new flagship OLED Z95A and Z93A models will come with Fire TV built in, and they will support far-field voice control with Alexa.

The new Fire TV Ambient experience that debuted on Amazon’s Fire TV Omni QLED Series will also be available. This feature lets users Customize their TV’s home screen with glanceable Alexa Widgets, and there’s also a smart home hub to control other gadgets in your house.