Amazon is rebuilding the traditional channel grid one batch at a time, as a ton of free channels are coming to Amazon Freevee in the near future. And today's news is just the tip of a huge commitment to free TV channels, as Amazon's declared it will increase its free, ad-supported TV (FAST) offering by 75% this year.
Today (June 12) Amazon Freevee announced that it will add 12 MGM channels and 11 Warner Bros. Discovery channels. These channels will arrive "over the next few months," and complement the more than 280 FAST channels on Freevee already.
MGM's channels will include linear streams devoted to specific shows, such The Pink Panther, Stargate, Green Acres and The Outer Limits. These are made for fans who just want to want one of their favorite shows, but don't want to pick an episode.
Amazon listed the following thematic channels: MGM Presents, MGM Presents: Action and MGM Presents: Sci-Fi. It didn't give a whole lot of detail about what titles to expect, only listing Capote and Red Dawn.
As for the WBD titles, no channel names were mentioned, but expect to see ad-supported streams for Discovery programming and WBD studio content. Amazon listed Cake Boss, Extreme Couponing, Ghost Brothers, Paranormal Lockdown, Say Yes to the Dress and Long Lost Family.
Oh, and Amazon also mentioned a recent deal for 10 FAST channels coming from Lionsgate, as well as nine recently-added titles such as Nashville, Are We There Yet?, Anger Management and HerSphere. A Ghost Hunters channel is launching soon in the "coming weeks."
Amazon's seemingly finding free TV channels in the space between its sofa cushions, as it also listed the following titles coming this month: Amazon Movies, Judge & Jury, QVC, HSN, Tastemade en Español, The Big Dish, USA Today and USA Today Sports. with all of these channels, Freevee is definitely one of the best free streaming services.
Analysis: Expect more ad-supported Amazon streaming options
Freevee's building a grid to rival Pluto TV and The Roku Channel, but FAST channels are only one half of its TV with ads play.
A report of a cheaper Prime Video with ads tier emerged last week, suggesting that Amazon's looking to join the new status quo of streaming. While it offers tons of great shows and movies for free and on-demand with Freevee, this would mark the first time Amazon put ads inside of its more lauded shows such as The Boys and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
That tier would exist for subscribers who don't have the need for Prime but also think $8.99 per month is too much for Amazon's shows and movies. One hopes they'll also make Prime Video's library of on-demand movies (including my 7 favorite new to Prime Video movies) and shows a part of this ad-supported network.
For that to happen smoothly, licensing would need to be smoother than it was for Netflix with ads — which has missing movies and shows.
How to watch Freevee online
While it's available through the Prime Video app — and on the web — Freevee is also available as a standalone-app on some of the best streaming devices. Those include Amazon Fire TV devices and Roku devices. It's also on smart TVs, iOS, Android, Xbox and PS5.
