Smart TV: European broadcasters push back against tech corporations

Smart TVs and virtual assistants from tech giants like Google, Amazon, Apple, or Samsung should be subject to stricter EU rules due to their growing market power. This is what several European broadcasting associations demanded on Monday in a letter addressed to EU Competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera.

“In light of the upcoming review of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) by the European Commission, the undersigned organizations wish to reaffirm their call to designate relevant operators of smart TV operating systems and virtual assistant platforms as gatekeepers, to better account for their increasingly important role and the changing market conditions,” the open letter, initiated by the Association of Commercial Television and Video on-Demand Services in Europe ACT, states. ACT members include broadcasters such as Canal+, RTL, Mediaset, ITV, NBCUniversal, Walt Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Sky, or TF1 Groupe.

In addition to ACT, signatories of the letter include, among others, the Association of European Radios AER, the European Broadcasting Union EBU, the European association of television and radio sales houses egta, or the Association of Austrian Private Broadcasters (VOP).

Market Concentration and Market Power

Addressing Ribera, the associations complain that smart TVs and virtual assistants have so far “received little regulatory attention” and lament increasing market concentration. Google's Android TV increased its market share from 16 to 23 percent between 2019 and 2024; Amazon Fire OS's market share rose from five to twelve percent in the same period, and Samsung's Tizen OS holds a market share of 24 percent. “A limited number of providers are thus gaining increasing influence over the outcomes for millions of users and businesses by controlling access to audiences and the distribution of content,” it states. The associations therefore demand that the EU Commission classify the most important operating systems for smart TVs (connected TV, or CTV) as “gatekeepers” in accordance with the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) and ensure adequate oversight to guarantee fairness and competitiveness.

The European Digital Markets Act, to which the association refers, has been in force since November 2022 and aims to curb the market power of so-called gatekeepers like Google, Amazon, or Apple and make competition fairer. According to the EU regulation, companies are classified as gatekeepers if they offer core platform services and have a sustained significant influence on the EU internal market. It became known at the beginning of the year that the EU Commission plans to enforce the digital legislation around the Digital Services Act (DSA) and DMA more decisively in 2026.

According to the broadcasting associations, the CTV operating systems of major tech giants play a central intermediary role between TV broadcasters and end-users. They could “therefore exert considerable influence on the discoverability, accessibility, and use of media services.” Tech giants might have incentives to keep end-users within their ecosystem and to restrict linking or forwarding, for example, from one media application to another, contractually or technically, the concerns state. The EU Commission, acting as the EU's antitrust authority, confirmed receipt of the letter, according to the Reuters news agency, and stated that it is examining its content.

Virtual Assistants as Gatekeepers

The broadcasting associations also express concerns regarding the gatekeeper function of virtual assistants (VAs). Although they are listed as a category of core platform services in the DMA, no virtual assistant has yet been designated as a gatekeeper. “The lack of definition for virtual assistants creates a regulatory loophole that allows powerful AI assistants to de facto become gatekeepers for media content via mobile phones, smart speakers, and in-car infotainment systems, without being subject to the DMA obligations,” they write, likely referring primarily to Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri.

The associations call on Ribera to subject smart TVs and virtual assistants to the DMA based on qualitative criteria, even if they do not meet the quantitative thresholds set in the EU law of over 45 million monthly active users and a market capitalization of 75 billion euros.

(akn)