The European antitrust investigates AOM, an alliance between Big Tech companies for 4K

L’antitrust dell’UE would be investigating theAOM, Alliance for Open Mediaan association that binds the largest Big Tech companies for the adoption of the new generation of streaming 4K. In the alliance among others Apple, Google, Amazon e Meta.

EU antitrust investigates AOM, the alliance for 4K streaming

L’Alliance for Open Media (AOM) is a strategic alliance between large tech companies to adopt a higher standard for 4K streaming, using the codec AV1. Founded in 2015, it involves a large number of companies. Although at the moment alone Netflix e YouTube they started using the new codec, with Chrome e Firefox who accept the new software.

Within the Alliance there are Google, Apple, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix e Tencent. E ancora Broadcom, Intel, Huawei, Samsung, Nvidia e Mozilla. From the richest companies in Silicon Valley and China to nonprofits for open source, the entire world of technology is participating in this Alliance.

None of these companies responded after Reuters disclosed exclusively about this European antitrust investigation. And the Commission itself remains vague: “there is a preliminary investigation regarding AOM’s licensing policies. The fact that the Commission initiated a preliminary investigation does not affect the outcome of the investigation on the existence of an infringement “.

However, it appears that the Commission is investigating whether the founding members of AOM are forcing newer members of fprovide proprietary technology without paying for licenses. This could limit innovation, threatening the non-adoption of new technologies as a consortium.

With the new European regulations, antitrust violations are likely to cost up to 10% of global revenues to Big Tech companies. So the risk could be high. Even if for the moment it is only a preliminary investigation. We will keep you informed.