Amazon Fire TV Launches in India

The stick, which enables Amazon Prime Video and rival services, such as Netflix and ErosNow, to be viewed on TV sets, becomes available in its fifth country.

Amazon has launched its Fire TV stick in India, making it the fifth country where the device becomes available after the U.S., U.K., Germany and Japan.

The Amazon Fire TV stick comes preloaded with apps, including Amazon Prime Video and rival OTT platforms, such as Netflix, Fox India's Star network-owned Hotstar, Viacom18's Voot and Indian film major Eros International's ErosNow, among others. The device also offers access to YouTube, various gaming apps and more.

Fire TV made its U.S. debut in 2014. The Fire TV stick with remote, which allows users to put apps such as Prime Video and Netflix on TV sets, is priced at about $62 (3,999 rupees) compared with $39 in the U.S.

The higher price is due to various extra content offerings, such as six months of advertising-free music from Indian music streamer Gaana, a free ErosNow membership running for three months and one month of ad-free streaming from Voot and Voot Kids. Also included in the bundle is 100 gigabytes of free data for three months from Indian internet service provider Airtel Broadband.

The launch announcement was made Wednesday at a press conference in New Delhi that featured such Amazon executives as Prime Video India director and country head Nitesh Kripalani and Amazon Fire TV vp Marc Whitten.

“Fire TV Stick offers access to a vast selection of movies and TV shows, popular apps and features designed specifically for customers in India, including powerful voice search for Amazon Video titles in Hindi and English,” said Whitten. “Fire TV Stick also offers data monitoring and other features to help customers in India get the most from their data plan and stream more content using less bandwidth.”

Meanwhile, Amazon continues to bolster its India content offerings with the launch of animated series Baahubali: The Lost Legends, based on the epic Baahubali film franchise. Last year's Baahubali: The Beginning was a box-office hit that reached an estimated $100 million worldwide. The sequel, Baahubali: The Conclusion, is being released April 28. Amazon Prime Video in India has also enhanced its Hollywood lineup with Suicide Squad.