Commercial radio comes in defense of free and free access to its programming through virtual attendees on phones and speakers smart before the claim of corporations and owners of said technology to charge radios for the issuance of their contents. which represents the interests of the sector, also claims in a statement that the Digital Markets Law is applied to this technology. The form that from AERC is considered appropriate for virtual assistants to enter into said normative scope would be to consider them as gatekeepers o Guardians, Definition reserved from the European Commission for companies with a dominant position in the digital market that provide essential platform services.
In the case of the radio, the essential platform services are those that exercise as intermediaries between the stations and the listeners for relevant digital services. While (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Bytedance, Meta and Microsoft), the AERC considers that the radio sector is in “an extremely vulnerable position and competitive disadvantage” before the claim of technological companies that require a consideration for accessing their virtual assistant services. Commercial radio claims that these services are also considered Guardians and apply the corresponding European regulations.
The sector affects the essential and free public service for listeners developed by the radio broadcast, heard every month by more than 32 million Spaniards and whose informative role came back to special relevance during, when all communications were cut in the area except those of the radio space. According to 40% of users in Spain, they never use virtual assistants, but a significant percentage (35.2%) already does it in a recurring manner. 66.1% use the mobile as a main device for this type of attendees and more than half use them through speakers smart. Among the most used attendees are Alexa (Amazon), Google Assistant and Siri (Apple).
Among the risks of its use detected by commercial radio in Spain are the restriction of access or the establishment of rates for currently free content, the insertion of unauthorized advertising or the limitation in the access to essential data for the sustainability of the sector. AERC considers it therefore a significant regulatory step in the United Kingdom of The Media Act 2024, The first legislation that regulates and guarantees the free and free access of radio stations to virtual attendees. And from the same association that represents the commercial radio in Spain, its joint application is remembered with other associations of the EU environment to the European Commission, “as well as to the national public authorities and other competent agencies”, so that the Digital Markets Law is effectively applied and that the access of radio programming to virtual attendees is free and free. “In short, it is essential for the present and the future of the radio to achieve the designation of virtual attendees as gatekeepers, maintain free and free access from radios to these services, and guarantee the freedom of choice of listeners and consumers in the EU ”.
