Google, Amazon, Apple and Samsung accused in the EU of biasing smart TV recommendations

European broadcasters have demanded that the European Commission recognize the smart TV and virtual assistant platforms of Google, Amazon, Apple and Samsung as market "gatekeepers." According to them, built-in search and recommendations increasingly make decisions for viewers about what they will see on screen.

Why the dispute arose

On March 23, 2026, several industry associations of broadcasters and radio companies sent a letter to European Commission Vice-President Tereza Ribeira. Their argument is simple: the connected TV market is rapidly concentrating around a few large ecosystems, and access to audiences increasingly depends not only on the quality of the films, series or channels themselves, but also on how the television interface presents them. If a platform controls the home screen, search and voice control, it gains the ability to subtly direct the user toward its preferred service and steer them away from competitors.

The authors of the letter believe this is where the risk of skewing arises. Built-in recommendations, search suggestions and system settings can give an advantage to content that benefits the platform owner. For users, this looks like ordinary convenience, but for broadcasters, this logic turns the television from a neutral device into an intermediary that influences distribution.

The European Commission has already confirmed that it will consider the appeal, and the dispute over smart TVs immediately entered the broader context of Europe's antitrust battle with American technology giants.

Who is strengthening their position

The appeal cites market research data from 2025: from 2019 to 2024, Android TV's share grew from 16% to 23%, Amazon Fire OS from 5% to 12%, and Samsung Tizen maintained 24% of the market. For broadcasters, this is an indicator not simply of popularity, but of concentration of power at the entry point to content. It is the operating system that decides which apps are on the first screen, how search works, what appears in recommendations, and how easily a viewer can switch from one service to another without unnecessary barriers.

"A small number of operators is gaining growing power over access to

audiences," states the broadcasters' appeal.

What broadcasters are demanding

The coalition is asking the Commission to apply the DMA regime—the EU's Digital Markets Act—to the largest TV platforms. If a service receives the status of gatekeeper, it faces stricter requirements: not to abuse control over the interface, not to promote its own services at the expense of others, and not to obstruct competitors from reaching users. Broadcasters separately raise the issue of virtual assistants. Formally they already exist in the law as a separate category of platforms, but in practice, no such assistant has yet received a special status, although increasingly it is becoming the first point of contact for content selection.

• recognize major smart TV operating systems and assistant providers as "gatekeepers"
• if formal thresholds are not met, open a market investigation based on qualitative criteria
• reconsider the overly narrow definition of "business user" for virtual assistants
• prevent degradation of visibility of third-party applications and imposition of one's own ecosystem

The argument about assistants is particularly important given generative AI. The letter states that such systems are rapidly expanding beyond the television: they work on smartphones, smart speakers, and automotive media systems. If regulation does not keep pace with this shift, AI assistants could become de facto dispatchers of media consumption without obligations for neutrality and compatibility. Then the platform will influence not only which service the user selects, but the very scenario of selection itself—what to open first, where to search, and whose subscription to sign up for.

What this means

The smart TV story shows that the battle over AI is not only happening in chatbots, but also in household interfaces through which people access content every day. If the EU supports broadcasters, it will place antitrust pressure not only on search engines and app stores, but also on television interfaces with voice assistants. For the market, this is an important signal: today, competitive advantage is created not only by the content itself, but also by who controls the path to it.