Australia’s free-to-air broadcasters are up in arms after Amazon demanded a 30% slice of any advertising revenue that passes through its FireTV devices.
Financial Review said networks Seven, Nine, Ten and SBS had accused the parcels to showbiz company of a “cash grab” and “rent-seeking”.
Amazon has set new terms of services that would require the owners of apps whose content is viewed for more than 30,000 hours in any one month to pay a sum equivalent to 30% of any advertising revenue received within a Fire TV app.
The broadcasters are pushing the government to bring in new laws that would require them to be pre-downloaded on Amazon Fire, Google Chromecast, and similar devices and feature prominently on their homepage.
Although the terms were first proposed by Amazon back in June, broadcasters say they have only now become aware of the change.
Although Fire TV represents just 4% of the market there are fears that if unchecked, Amazon’s proposals could set a precedent for larger players in the market.
