AMZN Amazon.com Inc

By Nathan Olivarez-Giles 

Amazon.com Inc. is looking to build on the momentum of its Fire TV sticks and set-top boxes by bringing the Fire TV interface -- with the Alexa voice-controlled assistant -- to lower-end third-party 4K TV sets.

At the CES tech show in Las Vegas, Seiki LLC, Westinghouse Digital LLC and Element Electronics Corp. -- self-styled "affordable" brands -- announced a lineup of Fire TV Edition 4K TVs. All three brands of TV sets are manufactured by China's Tongfang Global Ltd.

Amazon, mainly known for proprietary hardware-software pairings such as the Kindle e-reader and Fire tablet, recently began sharing its interfaces with third parties, starting with Alexa voice control. Though now found only in a handful of products outside Amazon's brand, many more are coming in the year ahead.

Teaming with budget brands to grab a toehold in the highly competitive TV market is a proven strategy. Roku Inc., one of Amazon's biggest rivals in streaming TV sticks and set-top boxes, has spent the last two years partnering with China's TCL Corp., Hisense Co. and Haier Group, Best Buy Co.'s Insignia house brand and Sharp, to get its streaming software onto millions of TVs. Roku said that as of December 2016, TVs running Roku software accounted for 13% of U.S. smart TV sales.

"Amazon is going after the same base as Roku, cheap TVs from brands that desperately want to find success in the U.S. and Chinese markets," said Joel Espelien, a senior analyst with the Diffusion Group research firm. "The high-end is locked up. Sony and Vizio are committed to Google, and both LG and Samsung have their own smart TV operating systems that they're committed to. So for Amazon, there's nowhere to go but the low end."

Amazon's Fire TVs, built by Seiki, Westinghouse and Element, will range from 43-inches to 65-inches in size, available only in 4K resolution. Seiki and Westinghouse are set to demonstrate their Fire TV television sets at CES this week. The new TVs will go on sale later this year, but the companies aren't disclosing pricing now. (Roku TVs, by comparison, are available in HD and 4K resolutions, range in sizes up to 65 inches, and prices up to $1,300.)

Consumers have grown to expect cheap TVs to come with basic streaming services, such as YouTube and Netflix, Mr. Espelien said. "For no-name TV brands like this, you get a well known brand slapped on the box," he said of Amazon and its partners. "If you're an Amazon customer and you're looking for a new TV, this might help you give a no-name brand a shot."

It's also a way for Amazon to further expand the influence of its Alexa AI assistant. Each Fire TV set will come with a microphone-equipped remote to summon Alexa. Primarily, the assistant can be used on the TV to find what to watch: Launch apps with commands like "Open HBO Now" or "Launch Hulu;" play specific content with requests such as "Watch 'Last Man on Earth.'" Alexa can even be used to skip around in a show, if you say "rewind 60 seconds" or "next episode."

In addition, the Alexa assistant can perform a similar set of skills to those found in an Amazon Echo.

At CES in Las Vegas, TV makers paired with other major tech companies. Notably Haier, one of Roku's TV partners, announced that it'll sell a line of smart TVs running Alphabet Inc.'s Google Chromecast software later this year, in sizes ranging from 43 inches to 75 inches.

Write to Nathan Olivarez-Giles at Nathan.Olivarez-giles@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 04, 2017 16:11 ET (21:11 GMT)

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