NBC becomes first broadcast network to launch a ‘skill’ on Amazon’s Alexa
The list of “skills” that Alexa, Amazon’s voice-enabled virtual assistant, is capable of performing keeps on growing, and now NBC is announcing that it’s the first of the major broadcast television networks to develop and launch on the platform.
In a news release shared exclusively with GeekWire, NBC said it wants to give its viewers another way to access up-to-date information on their favorite programs, from “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” to “Saturday Night Live” to “The Voice.”
“We are excited to be the first broadcast network to launch a ‘skill’ for Amazon Alexa,” said Rob Hayes, NBC Entertainment’s executive vice president for Digital. “NBC is committed to exploring Artificial Intelligence platforms, particularly around entertainment content, so it absolutely made sense for us to begin engaging with our television viewers on the Amazon Alexa platform.”
Hayes said the network was “thrilled to leverage the AI capabilities of Alexa” to help NBC viewers “find the content that they love.”
The network previously created a pre-recorded segment known as a flash briefing on Alexa during live episodes of the popular singing competition “The Voice” this past season. “The Voice” teamed up to create a weekly podcast series that featured all of the remaining artists, exclusive to the Amazon Echo.