There are a lot of questions right now about what’s next for Amazon’s Fire TV, but the company went out of its way in a Tuesday press release to make it clear that the set-top box isn’t going away.
Amazon’s website says the product is “currently unavailable,” but that’s often what happens right before newer product models are announced. There have been reports that the company may be getting ready to move on from the Fire TV altogether, much like it has recently with the Fire Phone. But that doesn’t seem to be the case with Fire TV.
The company claims in its news release, “Amazon Fire TV now has more channels, apps, and games than any other streaming media player, and continues to have the fastest growing selection—now up 17x since the launch in April 2014.”
There have been reports from TechCrunch and others who point to a recently discovered FCC filing as proof that Amazon is getting ready to release a new model of its set-top box hardware, about a year and a half after the original Fire TV debuted.
Apple recently announced its new Apple TV hardware, which comes complete with a lot of the features the Fire TV has had all along, like games, voice controls and universal search that lets you find content across apps.
Amazon’s press release on Tuesday didn’t address any of its own new hardware rumors, but it did point out that even its first version had these features first, noting that “Fire TV integrated universal search from the very beginning.”
The company announced that apps from FOX NOW, FXNOW, Poker Central, and Turner Classic Movies will be coming to the device soon. In addition, Amazon said it will be adding more than 10 services to the Fire TV’s universal search feature by the end of the year, including A&E, HISTORY, Lifetime, and PBS.
