EU broadcasters call for stricter regulations on Big Tech's influence over Smart TV.

      On Monday, the Association of Commercial Television and Video on Demand Services in Europe (ACT) issued a statement urging the European Commission to classify smart TV operating systems and virtual assistant platforms as ‘gatekeepers’ under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).

      This request aims to broaden regulatory actions against the increasing market dominance of Big Tech firms, which broadcasters contend are enhancing their control over content distribution and audience access through smart TVs and virtual assistants accessed via smartphones.

      The statement underscores the competition between traditional broadcasters and Big Tech companies, whose market share has steadily risen in recent years. For instance, Android TV’s market share jumped from 16% to 23%, while Amazon Fire OS increased from 5% to 12%, driven by a combination of proprietary devices and licensing agreements with third-party TV manufacturers. Meanwhile, Samsung’s Tizen OS maintained a 24% market share.

      While Connected TVs (CVT) are broadening the landscape of media, gaming, and other industries in Europe, broadcasters caution that these opportunities could be compromised by the intermediaries' role, which fosters gatekeeping practices that influence what users can see and access. The providers of CTV operating systems gatekeep by incentivizing or limiting options for end-users, effectively keeping them within their ecosystems.

      ACT asserts that this concentration of control may enable a few operators to monopolize the industry by “controlling access to audiences and content distribution.” The group emphasized the need for the Commission to “designate major TV operating systems as gatekeepers and ensure proper oversight to maintain fairness and competition.”

      Additionally, ACT requested that Virtual Assistants (VAs) also be classified as gatekeepers under the DMA, pointing out a regulatory gap that permits AI assistants to manage and recommend media content across apps without being bound by DMA requirements.

      The Association's members include Canal+, RTL, Mediaset, ITV, Paramount+, NBCUniversal, Walt Disney, Warner Bros Discovery, Sky, and TF1 Groupe. They also urged Competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera to apply DMA regulations based on qualitative criteria, even if platforms do not meet quantitative thresholds such as 45 million monthly active users or €75 billion in market capitalization.

      Furthermore, they called for a reevaluation of how “business users” are defined in the context of determining whether virtual assistants should be considered gatekeepers, as part of the ongoing review of the DMA. Other endorsers of the statement include the Association of European Radios (AER), the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), egta, Confindustria Radio Televisioni (CRTV), UTECA, and VOP.