Australians are being coerced into paying more to see their favourite cartoon dog as tech giants prioritise their partners and threaten free-to-air broadcasters.
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Bluey has taken the world by storm, ranking amongst the most streamed programs in the United States and beating out TV staples such as Gilmore Girls and Seinfeld.
As a children's show developed in Queensland and commissioned by the ABC and BBC, it is funded by Australian taxpayers.
But these same benefactors are being double-charged for the show because of smart TVs.
Speaking at a parliamentary inquiry on laws relating to free-to-air TV, ABC managing director David Anderson said search functions on smart TVs were prompting Australians to pay for streaming subscriptions when they wanted to watch Bluey.
"On some TVs, searching for Bluey won't take you to ABC iView, where Australian families can enjoy it for free," he said on Friday.
"Instead, it will take you to a paid service.
"If we want Australians to be able to find Australian content, including local news and children's programs, ensuring search recommendations ... is vital."
This problem extends to other ABC and SBS series and the heads of these organisations are blaming it on tech giants and TV manufacturers who are making deals with their paid services.
SBS managing director James Taylor said the manufacturer of the "best-selling connected TV" in Australia threatened to remove the broadcaster's app from the TV homepage unless it agreed to a 15 per cent revenue share and placement fee.
"When SBS refused to pay the manufacturer carried through on their threat, making it much harder for audiences to find the SBS on Demand app," he said.
"It's frankly scandalous that these massive global tech firms can unilaterally insert themselves as gatekeepers between Australians and their free Australian content - trusted news and information services that have been intentionally developed and underpinned by decades of public policy."
But the laws being discussed at the inquiry would require free TV channels to be given prominence on smart TVs, meaning catch-up TV services would be prioritised.
But Stephen Clear, a technical expert at Free TV Australia, says the issue could be more complex and prioritisation comes down to each streaming network's willingness to share its catalogues to a TV's search engine.
The proposed legislation would guarantee first rights to major sporting events to be offered to free-to-air broadcasters before they go behind a paywall.
The parliamentary committee also heard from Seven, Ten and Nine bosses, and Free TV Australia executives including Gregory Hywood, who says paid services pose an "existential" issue for Australian culture.
As advertisement spend is funnelled into online services such as Google and social media, free-to-air TV's share of revenue has diminished,
"This is about news, sport - all the things that make Australia, Australia," he said.
"There is really only one solution to this issue which is government legislation because there has been a market failure."
Free-to-air networks have called for the timeline for prominence laws to take effect to be reduced from 18 months to six months.
Subscription services including Foxtel and Netflix are also set to make an appearance.
Australian Associated Press
