Amazon’s latest announcement introduces Matter Casting, the video and audio beaming feature of the Matter smart home standard, to its smart displays and smart TVs. This addition was revealed by Amazon at CES 2024.
Following the introduction of Matter Casting to Amazon’s Prime Video app for Android and iOS, users will have the capability to cast content to supported Amazon devices, starting with the Echo Show 15, by simply tapping the new dedicated Matter Casting button. In addition, Amazon has confirmed that Matter Casting support will be extended to Fire TVs, including smart TVs from Panasonic with Fire TV built in, and various apps such as Plex, Pluto TV, Sling TV, Starz, and ZDF later this year.
Amazon’s official blog post states, “Customers can begin watching a movie or browse for their next favorite show from Prime Video on their phone, and cast it to their compatible Fire TV device or Echo Show 15. This is an industry-first demonstration of implementing Matter Casting.”
Matter Casting is an open local networking protocol that is not tied to a specific hardware stack. It can be implemented by any app or hardware maker and is not limited to specific operating systems or partnerships. This makes it easier to implement compared to proprietary alternatives.
Although the overarching Matter standard is supported by Apple and Google in addition to Amazon, it is unlikely that the former two tech giants will adopt Matter Casting due to the established nature of their respective proprietary casting technologies. For instance, Google recently announced that its casting tech, Chromecast, will be integrated into all of LG’s new TVs, without any mention of Matter Casting.
The Matter Casting specification, which was developed with significant input from Amazon, has the potential to do more than just casting. In theory, it can control a television’s core functions such as volume adjustment, changing the channel, and switching between HDMI ports. However, the onus is on app and device makers to incorporate support for these functions.
