European broadcasters urge EU to designate Google, Amazon, Apple, and Samsung smart TVs as DMA gatekeepers

The Association of Commercial Television and Video on Demand Services in Europe, whose members include Canal+, RTL, ITV, Paramount+, NBCUniversal, Walt Disney, and Warner Bros Discovery, sent a letter to EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera urging the European Commission to designate major smart TV operating systems and virtual assistants as gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act. The broadcasters cited market data showing Android TV's share growing from 16% to 23% between 2019 and 2024, Amazon Fire OS rising from 5% to 12%, and Samsung's Tizen OS holding 24%, arguing these platforms have the power to shape content distribution for millions of users without adequate regulatory oversight. The letter also flagged virtual assistants including Amazon's Alexa, Apple's Siri, and OpenAI's ChatGPT Tasks feature as unregulated de facto gatekeepers, urging the Commission to apply DMA obligations based on qualitative criteria even where platforms fall short of the quantitative thresholds.