Senior executives from Nine Entertainment, Seven West Media and Network Ten have called for Australian broadcasters to set aside their differences and join forces against the onslaught of foreign digital media giants such as Netflix, which have bigger budgets and global viewers.

Free-to-air and pay TV providers have traditionally been the dominant providers of video services due to the limited availability of broadband and video-on-demand services in Australia.

ThinkTV has been tasked with promoting the value of television. Credit:Louie Douvis

While linear TV viewing continues to dominate the average time people spend watching TV, developments such as the national broadband network's construction, the rising popularity of streaming service Netflix and Singtel-Optus' recent purchase of the English Premier League's broadcast rights are all threatening to pull audiences away from the broadcasters' traditional medium.

Digital and strategy chiefs from the incumbent metropolitan networks, two of which have launched streaming services of their own, warn that fierce free-to-air rivals need to switch their focus from "assassinating each other" to collaborating, in order to take the fight to the likes of Google, Facebook and Netflix.