I just took the Firestick out of my drawer and hooked it up again to make sure i had pushed ALL of the buttons. Nothing happens. Apparently, the remote doesn't light when it's working, so I wondered if it might be defective. I also tried different batteries, in case those included were defective.
I'm going with Bill's assessment that it needs to be initiated in the States. I'm less frustrated that way!

Leslie, I looked into ROKU after reading your post, but I'm reluctant to invest more money in these things if they're not going to work for me. Also, what I REALLY want to be able to watch is CNBC, and it appears that the only way to get it live is with cable..