Journalism and Social Media by Matthew Keys

Amazon’s Black Friday-esque shopping holiday, Prime Day, is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, July 12 and Wednesday, July 13, with the online retailer promising deep markdowns on thousands of items. But Amazon isn’t waiting until Prime Day to offer shoppers great savings on a number of streaming-related gadgets and services, with its own Fire TV devices and others seeing dramatic price drops in the days ahead of the shopping event.

These days, it’s hard to imagine that most people don’t have access to at least one streaming device or smart TV set. But the shopping event is still a good opportunity to pick up a discounted Amazon Fire TV Stick or Roku device for a home office, spare bedroom, garage, kids room or just to have for travel.

The same goes for streaming services: With thousands of movies and TV shows (some exclusive to certain services), there’s never been a better time to try out a new service — and Amazon is offering a deal on a handful of streaming services like Discovery Plus and AMC Plus that are offered through its Prime Video Channels platform.

No matter which streaming device you get, you can expect support for most popular streaming services — Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, YouTube, ESPN Plus, Paramount Plus, Apple TV Plus and Peacock. Amazon and Roku gear also offer access to the Roku Channel, while all support free streamers like Pluto TV, Comcast’s Xumo, Fox’s Tubi and Sinclair’s STIRR.

Here’s a list of the streaming gadgets and services that are currently on sale at Amazon…

Jump to: Amazon Fire TV | Fire TV Sets | Prime Video Channels | Roku | Apple TV | Android TV

The best discount on Amazon Fire TV hardware is the Amazon Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote — normally, it costs $40, but during the pre-Prime Day savings event, streamers can grab one for just $17, one of the lowest prices ever offered on the gadget.

The Amazon Fire TV Sticks are the perfect solution for people who want a portable streaming TV device without too many cables — just plug it into a TV set and a power outlet, and you’ve got streaming TV. The Fire TV Cube, on the other hand, is a great option for those who want to use Alexa to navigate streaming services and perform other functions like pause, fast-forward and rewind with using a remote control or needing a separate smart speaker.

Looking for a new TV entirely? Amazon’s got a slate of budget and premium-level TV sets with its Fire TV operating system baked right in — no separate streaming device required.

The 50-inch Amazon Fire TV 4-Series is offering one of the best discounts at the moment: Normally $470, Amazon has knocked the price down to just $260. Need a bigger screen? The 55-inch Amazon Fire TV 4-Series offers the same features with more screen real estate for $285, a deep discount on the normal price of $520.

Smaller rooms like a home office or garage would benefit more from the 32-inch Amazon Fire TV F30 Series built by Insignia, which is down to $100, a 44 percent discount off the normal price of $180. Want the biggest, best TV Amazon has to offer? Go with the 75-inch Omni Series 4K Smart TV for $750, a drop from the normal price of $1,100.

All Amazon Fire TV sets come with at least one HDMI port (most include two or more) for hooking up DVD players, Blu-Ray players, game consoles or other devices. Higher-end TV sets also support HDR 10, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos and come bundled with an Alexa voice-powered remote control.

Amazon offers access to popular third-party streaming services through its Prime Video Channels platform, which is baked into the Prime Video app. Prime Video Channels is supported anywhere the Prime Video app is available — including Roku, Apple TV, Android TV (Google TV) and Amazon’s own Fire TV devices.

Right now, Amazon Prime Video Channels is offering a new, two-month subscription to Showtime for just $1 a month (normally $11 a month), unlocking access to hit shows like “Shameless,” “Ray Donovan,” “Billions,” “The Chi” and “Yellowjackets” as well as hundreds of licensed movies and original documentaries. The Showtime subscription also comes with several linear feeds of the Showtime multi-plex cable network. The special rate of $1 a month lasts for two months during the Prime Day savings event.

All subscriptions automatically renew at their normal rate, so be sure to cancel or switch subscriptions before the two-month promotion ends.

Amazon’s not just offering its own streaming sticks for sale: The popular Roku streaming media players are also seeing a nice discount in time for Prime Day — and customers can grab those deals early, too.

The best deal on Roku’s streaming hardware is the Roku Streaming Stick 4K, which will be the best option for most people: Normally $50, customers can grab it for just $30, one of the lowest prices ever for this device. The Roku Streaming Stick 4K is ultra-portable — perfect for travelers — but not light on features: It offers access to ultra-high definition video on supported services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and HBO Max and comes bundled with a voice-powered remote control. It also supports popular video standards HDR 10 and Dolby Vision, so you know the picture it puts out is going to be incredible.

All Roku devices feature access to the Roku Channel Store, which offers apps like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Showtime, Disney Plus, Paramount Plus, Peacock, HBO Max, YouTube and more. Popular free streaming services like Freevee, Pluto TV, Xumo, STIRR, Haystack News, Plex and Redbox are also supported. People looking to move away from cable TV can stream their favorite local channels and cable networks using YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, DirecTV Stream and others; cheaper, slimmer cable TV alternatives Sling TV and Philo are also available on Roku devices.

The Roku Streambar and Streambar Pro are a neat two-in-one solution that offers a sound bar with Roku’s hardware built right in — just plug it into the TV, and you’re ready to stream, with excellent sound that is a major upgrade to any home entertainment system.

Though Roku’s own line of smart TV sets aren’t part of the Prime Day shopping event, many are still on sale this month, with over 40 percent knocked off the price of some budget models and decent discounts on higher-end sets. Each TV set includes Roku’s streaming platform built right in — no need for a separate device — and sport individual HDMI ports for hooking up game consoles, DVD players and other gadgets.

For a garage, home office or small living room, it’s hard to pass up the TCL 40-inch Roku HDTV for just $200 (normally $350). It features full high-definition resolution, has three HDMI ports and an antenna hookup for pulling in free broadcast television. The direct-lit screen produces a great picture for movie and sports fans alike.

Apple TV devices rarely go on sale: The ultra-premium streamers from one of the world’s most-renouned electronics and computer brands are expensive, but the people who use one seem to love it.

The Apple TV streamer offers many of the same popular apps as others do: Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video — they’re all available on Apple TV. Newer apps tend to hit Apple TV first, too, including HBO Max and Peacock (for a while, Apple TV users were among the few who could access both due to carriage disputes with Roku and Amazon).

Expensive? Yes — but sometimes, you get what you pay for. In this instance, it’s streamless integration with other Apple hardware like Macs, iPhones and iPads, all of which can mirror games, movies and other content using Airplay on the Apple TV. Fans of Siri will love the new voice-enabled remote control — it’s the only way to get Siri on the TV set. Newer generations of the Apple TV device offer 4K-capable video resolution and support for HDR 10 and Dolby Vision.

Here are the discounts on Apple TV devices:

For most users, the 32GB will suffice — it’s plenty of room to download dozens of streaming video and audio apps as well as Apple’s great 4K screen savers. Subscribers of Apple Arcade who want to play games on their TVs should spring for the 64GB version.

Disappointingly, there’s not too many Amazon discounts on Android TV or Google TV streaming hardware, with the TiVo Stream 4K being one of the few devices offered on sale at the moment. The TiVo Stream 4K offers a variant of Android TV (which is sort of different from Google TV) with its own TiVo discovery app baked into the platform for $35 (normally $40).

It isn’t the best sale on the TiVo Stream 4K — it does drop down to $30 from time to time — but for people who would rather have Android TV and don’t want to wait for a further price drop, the $5 savings might make a difference.

Unfortunately, neither the Chromecast dongle or the upgraded Chromecast with Google TV device are on sale at Amazon. A Chromecast dongle will set you back $30, while the 4K-capable Chromecast with Google TV costs $50. It might be worth waiting, though: There are rumors that a cheaper, HD-version of the Chromecast with Google TV might hit the market soon.

Though few Android TV devices are being offered for sale on Amazon, that isn’t the case with TV sets that are powered by Android TV — and some of them have the newer Google TV experience right out of the box.

For a small room, the 32-inch Hisense Android TV A4 Series HDTV is hard to pass up at just $148 (normally $170). Unlike Android TV streaming dongles, the Hisense Android TV A4 Series comes bundled with a full feature (read: it has number keys!) voice remote powered by the Google Assistant. Need something with a bit more screen real estate? The 40-inch Hisense A4 Series Android TV HDTV costs $188, down from its normal price of $210, while the 43-inch Hisense Android TV A4 Series HDTV is just $10 more at $198.

Moving up the spec sheet is the TCL 43-inch Class 4 Android TV 4K, which offers a better picture than the Hisense models for a little more money — $248, down from the normal price of $350.

Note: The Desk rounds up to the nearest dollar when prices end in fractions of a dollar. Prices do not include taxes, shipping and other fees and surcharges where required. The Desk uses affiliate links, which costs purchasers nothing and helps fund our journalism.

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Matthew Keys is an award-winning journalist who covers the intersection of media, journalism and technology as publisher of The Desk. He is based in Northern California.

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