A:Answer Not necessarily basic, sharonasmith, but not too difficult once learned. Make note of which HDMI input on the TV you have your cable box plugged into (you should have your round, one-pin coaxial cable from the wall going into your cable box and a rectangularish parallelogram - shaped HDMI cable coming out of the cable box and going into the TV. THAT'S the input you will want to read off the back of the set. Input 1, HDMI (ARC), would be the one you would want to conserve for a soundbar external speaker if you have one (it's what the Audio Return Channel (ARC) input was primarily designed for). If you don't intend to use a soundbar or external speaker, it can be used. If you are using a soundbar, or may, in the future, use HDMI Input 2 or 3.
Here's the easy part. To switch from the initial Fire TV screen to access your cable programming, press and hold down the little microphone button on the top center of you remote and say, "Alexa, switch to HDMI 2" (or HDMI 1 or HDMI 3, if you chose to plug it into either of those inputs). It will automatically switch to your cable input and you should be able to use either the TV's remote or the remote that your cable company provided to access your channels.
When you go back to the Fire TV screen, you'll notice the HDMI input you chose for cable listed in your top-tier "Recent" list, which you can select in the future (or just continue to utilize the somewhat easier Alexa Voice Command).
Hope that helped!
