The wall of broadcasters to Netflix & co: the icon for digital terrestrial TVs

An icon that will have to appear on the first screen of smart TVs and that will therefore have to be implemented by manufacturers. And which will be highlighted just enough to put it on a par with those of the streaming giants and web platforms, which have come to threaten traditional TV right into the devices, with smart TVs already risking shunting users away from traditional channels on the first screen.

This is established by a regulation approved by Agcom - with commissioner Elisa Giomi voting against - and announced by the Authority itself. The resolution is in the process of being published, but it is Agcom's own note that explains how this icon must be 'available to users on the home pages of all devices suitable for the reception of content transmitted on that platform; no smaller in size than the other icons or panels present in the portion of the screen in which it is positioned; identical on all devices and all user interfaces developed in order to allow its clear and immediate visibility'.

Not a bolt out of the blue. On the subject of prominence - the need to guarantee access to traditional TV, whose business is being jeopardised by remote controls, with no more numbers and the first screens, complete with app referrals - the debate has been going on for some time. And in the specifics of the icon there is all the work that has its roots in the Consolidated Text on audiovisual media services revised by resolution No. 294/23/CONS and in the subsequent technical roundtable "set up ad hoc, in which the associations of broadcasters and equipment manufacturers took part, gradually bringing their respective positions closer together, enabling the authority to arrive at solutions that are as shared as possible".

At this point, in June next year - i.e. one year after the conclusion of the technical round table - the obligation will be triggered for newly manufactured television sets, but also for those already on the market.

In a scenario," Agcom further explains in its note, "in which the manner in which content is presented on user interfaces, by giving different prominence to the different content presented or limiting the possibilities of personalisation, are capable of influencing, if not directing users' choices, the adoption of the measure constitutes an important stage in the Authority's path aimed at guaranteeing, while respecting users' freedom of choice, adequate prominence to those informative, political, educational, scientific, but also entertainment contents, which are relevant for the purposes of building collective awareness and shaping public opinion.