The Association of Commercial Television and Video on Demand Services called on the EU antitrust chief to bring DMA-style regulation to set-top boxes — Apple TV also mentioned for some reason.

The Apple TV set-top box is likely the best way to access and stream media, but that performance comes at a price. So, like other markets Apple is involved in, consumers trend toward cheaper options.

However, because of Apple's control over its ecosystem, it is often grouped in with other market leaders regardless of reported market share estimates. According to a report from Reuters, the Association of Commercial Television and Video on Demand Services in Europe (ACT) has asked EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera to have set-top boxes and smart TVs under the DMA as gatekeepers.

"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," ACT said in a letter to Ribera. "It is crucial that the Commission designate major TV operating systems as gatekeepers and ensure adequate oversight to guarantee fairness and contestability."

It is unclear why, but the same letter also called out virtual assistants as needing similar regulation as well. That aside is absurd on its face, especially considering the source of the complaint, and has little relevance to the rest of the story.

Apple roped in by association

The letter apparently calls out Apple TV, though not in the portion shared in the report. Apple's set-top box is a small percentage of market share when compared to the use of cheap Roku streaming sticks and onboard TV operating systems.

Even the numbers cited in the report fail to provide a metric for Apple TV market share. It only calls out Android TV at 23%, Amazon Fire OS at 12%, and Samsung Tizen OS at 24% from an unnamed market report released in 2025.

The remaining 31% is likely made up of some percentage of the other players, like Xiaomi and possibly game consoles. Apple TV is somewhere in there, but it is unlikely that the set-top box breaches far into double digits globally, if at all.

The ACT group is made up of Canal+, RTL, Mediaset, ITV, Paramount+, NBCUniversal, Walt Disney, Warner Bros Discovery, Sky, and TF1 Groupe. It seems the only ones not part of this group are Apple TV and Netflix.

The DMA and gatekeeper designation would not affect Apple without some significant adjustments. I'm not sure why the company was mentioned in the report at all.

Also, I'm not sure how Siri might be affecting companies like Disney in any way, shape, or form. This regulatory push from ACT is likely purely motivated by financial incentives, even if they're not immediately clear.