Tv e piattaforme alla sfida della visibilità: il Tar conferma le tutele Agcom

The Tar of Lazio has dismissed appeals from Samsung Electronics, Google, and Anitec-Assinform against the Agcom guidelines that guarantee adequate prominence to general-interest audiovisual and radio media services. The core of the dispute revolves around delibera 250/25/CONS, which outlines the criteria for qualifying general-interest services, the involved devices and interfaces, and the implementation methods for the measures.

The reference is Article 29 of the Single Text on Audiovisual Media Services, which extends the protection of content access to the tools through which the public searches and chooses them. The English term prominence encapsulates the concrete question of how accessible a service is among applications, menus, and competing offers.

The position on the screen can influence the choice before the viewer has decided what to watch. Behind that position, commercial relationships between global platforms and connected device manufacturers come into play. The administrative judges acknowledged that content availability alone does not guarantee its actual consumption.

Visibility, ease of access, and positioning on interfaces matter. The Tar therefore concluded that Agcom's rules strike a balance between the need to give prominence to general-interest services and the economic interests involved, correcting imbalances resulting from commercial agreements. "Today the challenge is not only the presence of a plurality of contents, but also their concrete accessibility to citizens," said Antonio Marano, president of Confindustria Radio Televisioni, who expressed satisfaction with the Tar's ruling.

"Ensuring adequate visibility for general-interest services means strengthening the right to reliable, qualified, and independent information, an essential element for the country's democratic life." The dismissal of the appeals strengthens the Authority's framework. Consequently, nothing will change regarding the provisions of delibera 250/25/CONS, which require device and smart TV manufacturers to comply with the Authority's indications contained in the delibera.

Therefore, the homepage of smart TVs must display, in addition to the blue icon that calls for terrestrial digital, the apps of the five main Italian broadcasters (Rai, Rti Mediaset, La7, Sky Italia, Warner Bros Discovery Italia), an icon for local TVs, one for national ones excluded from the group, and one for radios. Nine icons in total, a gauge of a critical mass that redraws the map of television power on the interface.

The content within the apps must relate to the online proposal of the broadcasters. Not only TV: the novelty extends to autoradio and infotainment systems in cars, including all broadcast analog and digital radio services, from the canonical FM and AM to DAB, recognized as a universal public service essential even in emergency situations.

The measures will be mandatory for new devices, while leaving room for customization in the display modes, in line with the European media freedom regulation. For already purchased devices, an automatic update will take place, at the expense of the device manufacturer or software provider.