The bosses of Australia's commercial free-to-air television networks have pleaded for an end to their obligation to make children's content, with one claiming they are "spending millions to make programs that are watched by thousands".

The chief executives of Seven, Nine and Ten appeared before a parliamentary inquiry into the sustainability of the film and television industry in Sydney on Thursday, where they put their usual competitive impulses aside to sing from the same song sheet.

All identified the challenges posed to their businesses by international media giants, such as Google, Apple and Netflix, and all fretted over the shift away from the TV schedule in favour of on-demand viewing. SBS got a kicking, too, for forcing up the price of international content, with Nine's Hugh Marks revealing that the public broadcaster had outbid his network for The Handmaid's Tale.

But by far the topic on which they were most in agreement was the "need" to get rid of the requirement to produce at least 130 hours of first-release children's content, including an average of 32 hours drama, per year, per network.