Netflix Goes Dark On These Fire TV Devices, Deals To Keep You Streaming
Turn out the lights, the party's over! That's the message certain Fire TV device owners are getting from Netflix as the popular streaming service gets ready to go dark on outdated and/or legacy Fire TV sticks and older television models with Amazon's Fire TV platform built in. That's the bad news. The good news is that Amazon's entire Fire TV Stick lineup is on sale, so you can keep the streaming party going without spending a lot of dough. More on that in a moment.
Netflix is sending out emails to affected Fire TV device owners. If you didn't receive it (maybe you never registered your device to an active email or it got flagged as spam), here's what it says.
"According to our usage data, you have used Netflix on a first-generation Fire TV streaming media player in the past 12 months. Netflix will discontinue support for these streaming media players on June 2, 2025," the email states, according to Heise Online.
Devices that are on the Netflix streaming chopping block include Fire TV models and Fire TV Sticks launched in 2014, and Fire TV Sticks with Alexa Voice Remote launched in 2016. Anything newer than those devices is safe for now.
Why is Netflix abandoning those devices, though? That part isn't entirely clear, though it's worth noting that Amazon stopped updating them several years ago. The assumption is that early Fire TV devices don't support the latest codecs and features employed by Netflix (such as AV1), features that can't just be pushed out with a simple software update.
Whatever the case, we're here to help you keep the party going with as little investment as possible. Yes, it stinks having to buy new hardware, but these Fire TV Stick deals soften the blow. Have a look...
- Fire TV Stick HD: $19.99 (43% off)
- Fire TV Stick 4K: $29.99 (40% off)
- Fire TV Stick 4K Max: $39.99 (33% off)
- Fire TV Cube: $99.99 (29% off)
The baseline Fire TV Stick HD is the cheapest option, albeit it's limited to 1080p. It also lacks Dolby Vision support, though it can handle HDR, HDR10, HDR10+ (recently added to Netflix), and HLG. Other features include 8GB of storage, 1GB of memory, and Wi-Fi 5 connectivity.
The Fire TV Stick 4K ups the ante with 4K Ultra HD streaming, Dolby Vision support, twice the memory at 2GB, and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity.
Both the Fire TV Stick 4K Max and Fire TV Cube bring more storage (16GB) to the streaming party, as well as Wi-Fi 6E connectivity. The Fire TV Cube, however, is the only one with an Ethernet port if you want the option of going wired.
Finally, all of the devices listed above come with an Alexa Voice Remote. However, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max and Fire TV Cube include an "Enhanced" version that adds a channel button for live TV. Alternatively, you can splurge on a standalone Fire TV Alexa Voice Remote Pro for $27.99 (20% off), which adds a remote finder, backlit buttons, customizable buttons, and a headphone button for easy Bluetooth pairing.
