The UK government on 15 July 2026 opened an eight-week consultation on formally designating Amazon's Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple's Siri as regulated Radio Selection Services under the Media Act 2024, a step that would compel the three voice platforms to carry live UK radio streams on demand and bar them from inserting most advertising ahead of or during those streams.

Media Minister Ian Murray set out the position in a written statement to Parliament, statement number HCWS269, with a parallel statement made in the House of Lords by Baroness Twycross. The move follows a report Ofcom delivered to the Secretary of State on 19 March 2026, which recommended that the three platforms be designated under Part 6 of the Media Act 2024. The consultation, run by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, runs from 15 July 2026 to 9 September 2026.

The designation targets the fastest-growing route into radio listening in Britain. According to the government's consultation document, 87 percent of the UK population tunes into radio every week, and 18 percent of total radio listening now happens through a voice-assisted device, citing the most recent figures from RAJAR. That shift, from analogue AM and FM to digital DAB and online streams delivered through smart speakers, is what the new regime is built to protect.

What designation actually requires

The legal machinery sits inside Part 3B of the Communications Act 2003, which Part 6 of the Media Act 2024 inserted. Under section 362BB, the Secretary of State can designate a Radio Selection Service, abbreviated to RSS in the legislation, only after receiving a report from Ofcom and only where the level of use in the UK to listen to internet radio services is judged significant. Ofcom supplied that report in March.

Once the scheme is fully commenced, a designated service carries four specific obligations set out in the consultation document. It must provide access to an internet radio service, meaning the online stream of a UK station, when a user selects it by voice command. It cannot insert content, including advertisements, before or during the playing of the selected service, save for a brief identification of the station or any third-party service used to play it, and any advertisements the selected service itself agrees to. It must use the station's preferred method of access, such as the broadcaster's preferred stream. And it cannot charge the radio service for providing that access or for complying with the other requirements.

The prohibition on pre-roll and mid-stream advertising is the provision with the sharpest commercial edge. It draws a line around a surface that platform owners have been steadily converting into advertising inventory elsewhere in their assistant products.

The 700,000-user threshold

Ofcom grounded its recommendation on a numerical test. The regulator set its significance threshold at a platform having 700,000 UK users, a figure derived from current levels of use and how people listen to internet radio streams through voice-assisted devices. Three providers cleared that bar: Amazon's Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple's Siri. Collectively, according to the consultation document, those three services account for roughly 95 percent of all RSS users listening to internet radio streams in the UK.

Ofcom reached the conclusion after assessing the matters specified in section 362BC of the Communications Act 2003: the number of members of the public using a particular service, the manner in which it is used, whether the level of use is significant, and any other relevant matters. Having taken Ofcom's advice into account, the Secretary of State agreed that 700,000 users is the appropriate threshold and is, in the language of the statement, minded to agree that all three should be designated.

The proposed regulations name the corporate entities precisely. The Alexa service is provided by Amazon Media EU S.a r.l., incorporated in Luxembourg. Google Assistant is provided by Google LLC, incorporated in Delaware. Siri is provided by Apple Distribution International Limited, incorporated in Ireland. Full draft regulations sit at Annex A of the consultation.

AI upgrades pulled inside the net

The element that most directly addresses the current direction of the assistant market is the government's treatment of AI-powered successor products. The consultation states that Amazon's Alexa+, the company's new AI-powered version of Alexa, represents an upgrade of the same Radio Selection Service known as Alexa, so a single designation would cover both Alexa and Alexa+.

The government set out the reasoning in detail. A user's legal relationship with Amazon does not change on the upgrade, since the same Alexa Terms of Use and Amazon Privacy Policy apply. Both versions share a highly comparable user experience. For the vast majority of Alexa users there are no distinct fees tied to Alexa+, because it is included in a Prime subscription, and those users will reportedly be automatically upgraded from the original service. Technical analysis, the document states, indicates that the existing skills, routines and device integrations underpinning Alexa's function as an RSS remain in place and unchanged under Alexa+. According to the consultation, Amazon has publicly confirmed that 97 percent of the 600 million Alexa devices sold worldwide over the past decade will be capable of supporting the Alexa+ architecture.

The same logic is projected forward. The government expects the approach is likely to apply to any upgrade of Google Assistant to Google Gemini, and to any AI upgrade of Apple's Siri. Those upgrades would be assessed against the same factors and are likely to be treated as updates to the existing designated service rather than as distinct services. The stated intent is to future-proof the framework so protections persist as the platforms evolve, rather than lapsing each time a vendor rebrands or re-architects its assistant.

Radiocentre, the industry body for commercial radio in the UK, welcomed the approach on 17 July 2026. The organisation works on behalf of more than 50 stakeholders representing over 90 percent of commercial radio by listening and revenue. According to Radiocentre, the inclusion of Alexa+ followed calls from the radio industry.

Matt Payton, chief executive at Radiocentre, framed the significance of the step. "This is a significant move towards implementation of these new rules. With millions of listeners now accessing radio through smart speakers, it's vital that they can continue to find and enjoy their favourite stations, especially as AI technology continues to evolve," he said. Payton added that the body looks forward to continuing to work with the government and Ofcom on the framework, which it expects to come into force next year. Radiocentre said it will provide an industry response to the consultation before it closes on 9 September 2026.

The consultation questions

The consultation puts two questions to respondents. The first asks whether they have views on the approach to taking forward Ofcom's recommendations in designating the three services. The second asks specifically whether they have views on including generative AI enabled versions of those services within the same designations. Responses go to the DCMS radio team by email, and the government will publish its response on the relevant GOV.UK page, summarising the responses received and setting out the actions it plans to take.

The document also notes that designation is not a one-time event. Following any initial designation, the DCMS Secretary of State may at any future time request further reports from Ofcom should the market develop, with the regulator each time considering current market conditions before the same process of consulting and making regulations follows. The Secretary of State's stated view is that the designations will secure the policy objectives of the Media Act 2024, safeguarding the public value of UK broadcast radio streams accessed through voice-assisted devices, without imposing disproportionate burdens on platforms.

Why this matters for the advertising market

The regulatory question sits directly on top of a commercial one that has moved quickly over the past year. Amazon has been converting its assistant into an advertising surface at a measurable pace. The company opened its Conversational Entertainment Ads format on Alexa+ to self-service buyers on 17 June 2026, extending an ad product that had previously been available only through managed service, and that format inserts sponsored content into the assistant's response when a viewer asks what to watch.

That expansion is one instance of a wider pattern. Amazon's redesigned Fire TV interface, which folds Alexa+ across the screen, reached customers worldwide in June 2026, and Amazon's advertising business reported full-year 2025 revenue of $68.6 billion. When Amazon first unveiled Alexa+ with natural conversation capabilities in 2025, the company had not detailed specific advertising integration plans, and the intervening months have seen advertising layered onto the assistant step by step. The distribution of Amazon's audio inventory has widened in parallel, with iHeartMedia's sales force gaining access to Amazon streaming and audio ads through a deal reported in July 2026.

Against that backdrop, a rule that forbids designated services from inserting advertising ahead of or during a user-selected radio stream carves out a protected zone within a surface that platform owners are otherwise monetising aggressively. For commercial broadcasters, the value at stake is carriage and the integrity of their own ad-funded streams. UK radio advertising sits inside a broader audio economy where competition for listener attention and advertising budget is intense, and where podcast advertising has been gaining ground on traditional broadcast formats, with one 2026 study finding 44 percent of UK podcast listeners recalled making a purchase after hearing an ad.

The designation also lands amid intensifying regulatory attention on how large platforms bundle AI assistants into services people already use. Competition authorities have flagged the risk of default integration locking users into a handful of AI agents, and Ofcom itself remains active across UK media and platform oversight, from its enforcement powers under the Online Safety Act to broadcasting licences. The Media Act framework adds a sector-specific layer aimed squarely at protecting one incumbent medium as its distribution migrates onto devices controlled by three of the largest technology companies operating in the country.

Whether the AI-inclusion provisions survive the consultation intact, and how the ad-insertion prohibition is enforced in practice once the scheme commences, are the open questions that the government's forthcoming response will begin to answer.

Timeline

  • 24 May 2024: Media Act 2024 receives Royal Assent, introducing Part 6 and the Radio Selection Services regime.
  • 19 March 2026: Ofcom delivers its final report to the Secretary of State, recommending designation of Amazon's Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple's Siri.
  • 15 July 2026: DCMS opens the eight-week consultation; Ian Murray makes written statement HCWS269 to the Commons and Baroness Twycross makes the parallel Lords statement.
  • 17 July 2026: Radiocentre issues a statement welcoming the plans and the inclusion of Alexa+.
  • 9 September 2026: Consultation closes; deadline for responses.
  • 2027 (expected): The new framework anticipated to come into force, according to Radiocentre.

Summary

Who: The UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport, with Media Minister Ian Murray and Lords Minister Baroness Twycross, acting on a recommendation from Ofcom, in a process that would regulate Amazon's Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple's Siri. Radiocentre, the commercial radio industry body led by chief executive Matt Payton, responded in support.

What: An eight-week public consultation on formally designating the three voice assistant platforms as Radio Selection Services under Part 6 of the Media Act 2024. Designation would require the platforms to carry live UK radio streams on voice command, bar most advertising before or during those streams, use each station's preferred stream, and prohibit charging stations for access. Amazon's Alexa+, and any future AI upgrade of Google Assistant to Gemini or of Apple's Siri, would fall within the same designations.

When: Ofcom reported on 19 March 2026. The consultation opened on 15 July 2026 and closes on 9 September 2026. Radiocentre responded on 17 July 2026. The framework is expected to come into force in 2027.

Where: The United Kingdom, covering radio streams accessed through voice-assisted devices, with the corporate entities incorporated in Luxembourg, Delaware and Ireland.

Why: With 87 percent of the UK population listening to radio weekly and 18 percent of listening now via voice-assisted devices, and with three platforms accounting for roughly 95 percent of voice radio listening above a 700,000-user threshold, the government aims to safeguard listeners' access to UK broadcast radio streams as distribution migrates onto smart speakers, without imposing disproportionate burdens on platforms.