Netflix shoots its shot in smart TV clash with free-to-air networks
Global streaming giant Netflix is calling on Australia to take a leaf out of the UK's book by limiting free-to-air networks to a single, shared app tile on viewers' screens.
Global streaming giant Netflix has urged the Australian government to limit the prominence it plans to give free-to-air networks on smart televisions to a single, shared app tile to prevent global players being crowded out from highly coveted digital real estate.
The call comes in the lead up to the release of findings from a Senate committee inquiry launched into the government’s proposed prominence framework, which promises to ensure Australian consumers can easily find free content on their smart TVs, by preferencing the apps of free-to-air networks over others.
The committee will hand down its findings next Tuesday, adding to a months-long regulatory clash between free-to-air TV companies Nine Entertainment, Seven West Media and Paramount-owned Network 10 and their pay TV rivals, Foxtel, over the position of their apps on smart TVs that has spilled into public view.
Netflix’s suggestion, which borrows from a recommendation made by the British media regulator, is included in its supplementary submission to the Senate committee, which held hearings in Canberra last month.
