Major television and streaming companies across Europe are pressing European Union officials to impose tougher regulations on smart TV platforms operated by tech giants Google, Amazon, Apple and Samsung, citing concerns about their expanding influence over content distribution.
The Association of Commercial Television and Video on Demand Services in Europe, representing media powerhouses including Canal+, RTL, Mediaset, ITV, Paramount+, NBCUniversal, Walt Disney, Warner Bros Discovery, Sky and TF1 Groupe, delivered their appeal to EU antitrust commissioner Teresa Ribera on Monday.
According to the broadcasters’ analysis of 2025 market data, Google’s Android TV platform expanded its market presence from 16% to 23% between 2019 and 2024, while Amazon’s Fire OS grew from 5% to 12% during the same timeframe. Samsung’s Tizen operating system currently holds a 24% market share, the group reported.
The media companies want these platforms classified as “gatekeepers” under the EU’s Digital Markets Act, legislation that took effect in 2023 designed to limit big tech companies’ market power while promoting competition and consumer options.
“A limited number of operators are therefore gaining growing ability to shape outcomes for millions of users and businesses by controlling access to audiences and content distribution,” the broadcasters stated in their correspondence to Ribera, which Reuters obtained.
“It is crucial that the Commission designate major TV operating systems as gatekeepers and ensure adequate oversight to guarantee fairness and contestability,” the media companies emphasized.
The broadcasting alliance expressed worry that their technology competitors might work to keep users locked within their own platforms and could impose contractual or technical barriers that prevent smooth transitions between different media applications.
Representatives from the European Commission, Google, Amazon, Apple and Samsung have not yet provided responses to requests for comment on the matter.
The broadcasters also raised alarms about voice-activated assistants, particularly Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri, while noting that OpenAI introduced its own entry into this space last year through a beta feature called Tasks integrated with its ChatGPT artificial intelligence system.
Currently, the European Commission has not designated any voice assistants as gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act framework.
“The lack of designation of virtual assistants creates a regulatory void, allowing powerful AI assistants to become de facto gatekeepers for media content through mobile phones, smart speakers and in-car radio infotainment services, without being subject to DMA obligations,” the broadcasting groups warned.
The media companies are asking Ribera to apply Digital Markets Act rules to smart television platforms and voice assistants based on qualitative assessments, even if these services don’t reach the standard quantitative thresholds of more than 45 million monthly users and 75 billion euros in market value.
Additional organizations supporting this initiative include the Association of European Radios, the European Broadcasting Union, the European association of television and radio sales houses, Confindustria Radio Televisioni, Televisión Comercial en Abierto, and Verband Österreichischer Privatsender.
