An Amazon Fire TV Stick is an inexpensive way to add free and subscription streaming services to any television with a HDMI port.
For all the free TV shows that are available on apps like Pluto TV and tubi, they don’t give you access to local broadcast channels such as NBC, CBS, FOX or ABC. These local channels are available as free over-the-air (OTA) TV stations available to anyone using a decent TV antenna.
Adding antenna channels to an Amazon Fire TV Stick or Fire TV Cube requires additional equipment – specifically a TV tuner. Amazon once made their own OTA DVR called the Fire TV Recast.
The Recast was a great product that integrated antenna channels into the Live tab on Fire TV devices. But unfortunately, the Recast is discontinued.
There are a couple popular OTA DVR options such as HDHomeRun and Tablo that allow you to watch antenna channels within an app. But Amazon does not support these third-party OTA DVRs within the Fire TV Live Experience tab.
However, another OTA DVR still allows you to get local channels from your antenna into the live tab.
If you connect a TV antenna to an AirTV 2 or AirTV Anywhere, an OTA DVR made for Sling TV subscribers, you can sync your local channels to the Fire TV’s live tab. You don’t need to be a Sling TV subscriber, but you do need a Sling TV account.
Having the Sling TV account will enable you to watch its FAST service called Sling Freestream and whatever you can get for local OTA channels.
Why the AirTV works on Fire TV
While it’s true that Amazon has discontinued the Fire TV Recast, the Fire TV’s “Live Experience” still supports a number of live TV streaming services, Prime Video Channels and apps with Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television channels such as Pluto TV and Tubi.
Sling TV is among the live TV streaming services that are supported by Amazon Fire TV’s Live Experience. Since Amazon’s software sync’s content through the Sling TV app, it pulls in local channels that are added through the AirTV OTA DVR.
My latest testing of this method happened on Sept. 2, 2024, and it still works.
Other Antenna Channel Options with Fire TV
If getting OTA channels in the Fire TV’s live tab isn’t that important to you, a HDHomeRun or Tablo is great for watching your local broadcast channels. The HDHomeRun app and Tablo app lets you watch live TV and manage recordings.
Any Smart TV that uses Fire TV as a software hub lets you integrate OTA channels into the Live tab as well.
By plugging a TV antenna directly into the Fire TV Smart TV, you can simply scan for channels under settings to add OTA channels to the menu.
