EU broadcasters say smart TVs and voice assistants are the next gatekeepers

Europe's broadcasters say smart TVs and voice assistants are fast becoming the next Big Tech gatekeepers, with little sign of Brussels stepping in.

The warning comes in an open letter addressed to European Commission executive vice-president Teresa Ribera, signed by industry groups including the Association of Commercial Television and Video on Demand Services in Europe (ACT) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

The letter urges the Commission to bring connected TV operating systems and virtual assistants within the scope of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), arguing that both now sit squarely between audiences and the content they're trying to watch or hear, with growing influence over how that content is surfaced.

The concern isn't the screens themselves, but the software layer deciding what gets shown, whether that's a recommendation row on a TV homepage or the answer served up when a user asks a voice assistant ...