Radio selection services: designating Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant without a market power test
In short: Radio selection services are voice-activated services that let a user pick a UK radio station and play it by spoken command. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) proposed on 15 July 2026 to designate Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri under section 362BB of the Communications Act 2003. The consultation closes on 9 September 2026.
Ask a smart speaker for a radio station and Amazon, Google or Apple decides which stream you get, whether an advertisement plays first, and whether the broadcaster pays for the carriage. Those terms are commercial today. Parliament legislated in 2024 to take them out of commercial hands, but the operative sections are still not in force. The Secretary of State now proposes to designate Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri, in a consultation closing on 9 September 2026.
Key findings (Ofcom and DCMS)
- Ofcom recommended designating three services, and estimated that together they account for approximately 95% of all UK use of a radio selection service to listen to internet radio. Source: Ofcom, Designation of Radio Selection Services: final report to the Secretary of State, 19 March 2026.
- Ofcom set the significance benchmark at 700,000 UK users. That figure appears in no Act and in no statutory instrument. Source: Ofcom, final report, 19 March 2026.
- Ofcom built its user estimates from its own YouGov survey of 4,040 respondents, with fieldwork between 17 and 23 September 2024, having rejected provider-supplied data because providers “used different methodologies”. Source: Ofcom, final report, 19 March 2026 (Ofcom copyright).
- Ofcom made no recommendation on Alexa+, Google Gemini or an AI-enabled Siri, saying only that it would “continue to monitor developments in voice assistants”. The proposal to treat Alexa+ as the same service is the Secretary of State’s. Source: Ofcom, final report, 19 March 2026 (Ofcom copyright); DCMS consultation, 15 July 2026.
- Listening through smart speakers grew from 2% of all radio listening in Q4 2021 to 18% in Q2 2025. Source: Ofcom, final report, 19 March 2026, drawing on RAJAR.
- Ofcom plans to consult on the code of practice in Q2 2026/27 and to publish its statement in Q4 2026/27. Source: Ofcom, Plan of Work 2026/27.
| Service | What Ofcom estimated (UK users, July to September 2024) | What Ofcom recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Alexa | 7.1 million to 10.4 million | Designate |
| Google Assistant | 1.8 million to 3.4 million | Designate |
| Siri | 950,000 to 1.9 million | Designate |
| All other radio selection services combined | 250,000 to 1 million | No recommendation; grouped, and not assessed individually |
How designation under Part 3B works
A radio selection service is a service provided over the internet that lets a user choose between internet radio services from different providers and play the one chosen, by spoken command, under section 362BA of the Communications Act 2003 (CA 2003). Parliament created the regime in Part 3B of that Act, inserted by section 48(1) of the Media Act 2024 and brought into force on 23 August 2024 by SI 2024/858, with three exceptions covered below.
The Secretary of State may designate a service only where she considers that its level of use in the United Kingdom to listen to internet radio services is significant, under section 362BB(2). She must have an Ofcom report first, under section 362BB(3), and must consult those representing providers of radio selection services and of internet radio services, under section 362BB(4). Ofcom advises and does not decide. Its report must assess user numbers, the manner of use and whether that use is significant, under section 362BC(4), and Ofcom must publish reasons only where the Secretary of State departs from what it recommended, under section 362BC(6). Ofcom published the statement of principles and methods that governs those reports on 15 May 2025.
The designation instrument itself is subject to the negative procedure, by operation of section 402(2), because section 362BB(8) confines the affirmative requirement to regulations under section 362BB(5). The draft published with the consultation carries the negative-procedure preamble.
A significance test, not a market power test
Section 362BB(2) asks the Secretary of State one question: do people in the United Kingdom use this service to listen to internet radio to a significant degree? There is no market power test, no turnover condition and no assessment of entrenchment. The CMA and the European Commission arrive at the same three companies by a much longer road.
| Feature | Part 3B, CA 2003 | Strategic market status, DMCC Act 2024 | Gatekeeper designation, DMA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trigger | Significant level of use to listen to internet radio (s.362BB(2)) | Substantial and entrenched market power plus a position of strategic significance (Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, ss.2(2), 5, 6) | Significant impact on the internal market, important gateway, entrenched and durable position (Regulation (EU) 2022/1925, Art 3(1)) |
| Where the threshold sits | Nowhere in law. 700,000 users is a regulator benchmark in a published statement of methods | In the Act: global turnover above £25 billion or UK turnover above £1 billion (s.7(2)) | In the Regulation: €7.5 billion turnover or €75 billion market capitalisation, 45 million monthly active end users, 10,000 yearly active business users (Art 3(2)) |
| Who decides | The Secretary of State, by statutory instrument. Ofcom advises only | The CMA, after an SMS investigation (s.2(4)) | The European Commission, by decision |
| Procedure | Negative resolution | Investigation with statutory consultation | Self-notification within two months, then Commission decision (Art 3(3)) |
| Challenge route | No statutory appeal. Section 192 CA 2003 does not extend to Part 3B, leaving judicial review | Appeal to the Competition Appeal Tribunal | Action before the General Court |
Part 3B borrows the architecture of broadcasting carriage regulation and points it at three technology companies. The CMA’s conduct requirements on Apple and Google and the European Commission’s specification decisions on Google each followed an investigation, rest on a finding about market position, and can be appealed. Ofcom’s recommendation followed a YouGov survey of 4,040 people, and a designation made on it can be challenged only by judicial review.
The duties a designation would trigger are not yet in force
SI 2024/858, regulation 2(1)(s) commenced section 48 of the Media Act 2024 except the insertion of sections 362BI, 362BJ and 362BN into CA 2003. As at 29 July 2026 those three sections remain outside commencement, and no later instrument has changed that. Section 362BI carries every substantive obligation in the regime: the duty to let users select and play a listed station by spoken command, the rule against playing anything before the selected stream apart from a brief identification and, with the broadcaster’s agreement, advertisements, the broadcaster’s right to specify the streaming method, and the prohibition on charging the broadcaster for any of it. Section 362BJ carries the compliance statement and section 362BN the complaints procedure.
The designation power, Ofcom’s advisory role, the two lists, the information-gathering power and the whole enforcement chapter are all in force. The duties they exist to support are not. DCMS records this in the consultation, describing a scheme that “once fully commenced, will impose specific requirements on designated radio selection services”. Nothing published so far gives a date.
Ofcom has not built two further pieces of the machinery. Section 362BG requires Ofcom to establish, maintain and publish a list of relevant internet radio services, and that duty has been in force since August 2024, but Ofcom has published no list and has not opened the notification route. Ofcom describes both in the future tense in its final report. Ofcom has not yet consulted on the code of practice under section 362BK. That code is the route to the safe harbour: under section 362BL(1), a provider that takes the actions the code recommends is treated as complying with section 362BI.
Implications for the designated providers and for radio broadcasters
The access right is opt-in. Section 362BI attaches only to a relevant internet radio service, which under section 362BG(5) means one whose provider has asked Ofcom to add it to the list, and which under section 362BG(3) and (4) Ofcom is satisfied simulcasts a UK radio service, advertisements aside. A broadcaster that does nothing acquires no right of carriage on any designated service.
For the three providers, the commercial substance of a designation lies in section 362BI(6), which prohibits charging a listed broadcaster for carriage and prohibits entering into an agreement capable of breaching that prohibition, and in section 362BI(3) and (4), which let the broadcaster nominate the streaming method. Section 362BI(5) qualifies both, so a provider is not required to override a user’s own settings. Part 3B applies to a service provided from outside the United Kingdom so far as it is made available to the public here, under section 362BZ3.
Ofcom alone enforces, through a provisional notice of contravention under section 362BR, representations, and a confirmation decision under section 362BS, which may require steps and impose a penalty greater than the amount the provisional notice proposed. The ceiling sits outside Part 3B, at Schedule 16A, paragraph 3(2): the greater of £250,000 and 5% of qualifying worldwide revenue. Section 192 routes appeals to the Competition Appeal Tribunal from Part 2 decisions and from the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, and not from Part 3B, so there is no statutory merits appeal. Silence in Part 3B does not oust the supervisory jurisdiction of the High Court, and judicial review remains, but review tests the legality of a decision rather than its merits. A challenge to a designation would go to the lawfulness of the Secretary of State’s judgment on significance, not to whether she picked the right number. Firms facing an Ofcom information notice or a provisional notice under any regime can see our investigations and enforcement support page.
Viewpoint
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has not yet answered its own second consultation question, on generative AI. Regulation 3(2) of the draft instrument provides that a designation is not affected by a change to the name by which the service is known. That covers a rebrand. It does not cover a change in what the service does, which is the case DCMS itself contemplates when it says the same approach is likely to apply to an upgrade of Google Assistant to Gemini and to any AI upgrade of Siri. Ofcom declined to take a position, recording the arrival of Alexa+, Gemini and Apple Intelligence and saying it would keep the market under review, so the reasoning that Alexa+ is the same service as Alexa is the department’s own.
On Ofcom’s published timetable the code of practice consultation falls in the quarter now running and the statement in Q4 2026/27, so a designation could be made before the section 362BL safe harbour exists and before the section 362BG list opens, in respect of duties that are not yet in force. In my experience of access regimes the fights are about onboarding method, the definition of the listed service, and who pays for the integration. Ofcom will settle all three in the code of practice, and it has not written it yet.
Frequently asked questions
Which services would be designated radio selection services?
The draft regulations designate the service known as Alexa or Alexa Plus provided by Amazon Media EU S.a r.l., Google Assistant provided by Google LLC, and Siri provided by Apple Distribution International Limited. Ofcom recommended all three on 19 March 2026, and the Secretary of State is minded to agree.
What would a designated radio selection service have to do?
Under section 362BI CA 2003, take all reasonable steps to let users select and play any listed internet radio service by spoken command, play nothing before it apart from a brief identification and any advertisement the broadcaster agrees to, use the broadcaster’s preferred streaming method on request, and charge the broadcaster nothing for any of that. Those duties are not yet in force.
How does a radio station benefit from the regime?
By notifying Ofcom under section 362BG(5) and satisfying Ofcom that it has an effective system for securing that the online stream simulcasts its UK radio service, advertisements aside. Only services on Ofcom’s published list are relevant internet radio services, and section 362BI applies only to those. Ofcom has not yet opened the notification route.
What is the maximum penalty?
The greater of £250,000 and 5% of the person’s qualifying worldwide revenue for its most recent complete accounting period, under Schedule 16A, paragraph 3(2) CA 2003, where the person has an accounting period. In any other case the maximum is £250,000. Ofcom imposes it. Part 3B provides no appeal to the Competition Appeal Tribunal, so a challenge would lie in judicial review.
For advice on designation, carriage and access obligations under Part 3B of the Communications Act 2003, or on responding to the consultation before it closes on 9 September 2026, contact Rob Bratby at Bratby Law.
