South Korea - Broadcasting

Synopsis

Archived report: this report was archived September 2005 and has not been updated. Television broadcasting in South Korea, the growth of which has been erratic over the years, is taking real steps to progressively grow its digital broadcasting system. The government is committed to transitioning the country to digital terrestrial, digital cable and digital satellite TV broadcasting by 2010. In May 2005, South Korea witnessed the commercial launch of satellite Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) TV services for mobile devices such as cell phones. This report examines the television broadcasting market in the Republic of Korea, with a focus on the rise of digital television.

Table of Contents

• 1. Synopsis
• 2. Broadcasting market overview
• 3. Broadcasting regulatory issues
  • 3.1 Cable TV Act and Korea Broadcasting Commission (KBC)
  • 3.2 2000 Broadcasting Act
    • 3.2.1 Foreign ownership regulatory reforms in 2004
    • 3.2.2 Domestic satellite DTH services
  • 3.3 Mandatory carriage rules for public broadcasting
• 4. Free-to-Air (FTA) broadcasters
  • 4.1 Overview
  • 4.2 Korea Broadcasting System (KBS)
  • 4.3 Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC)
  • 4.4 Educational Broadcasting System (EBS)
  • 4.5 Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS)
• 5. Cable and pay TV
  • 5.1 Overview and cable TV broadcasters
  • 5.2 Cable programming
  • 5.3 Wireless cable TV
• 6. Satellite TV
  • 6.1 Overview
  • 6.2 Satellite TV broadcasters
    • 6.2.1 Korea Digital Broadcasting Co Ltd / SkyLife
    • 6.2.2 Arirang TV
    • 6.2.3 KBS
    • 6.2.4 PanAmSat
• 7. Digital TV
  • 7.1 Overview
  • 7.2 Schedule for introduction of digital services
  • 7.3 Digital terrestrial TV broadcasting
    • 7.3.1 Terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB)
  • 7.4 Digital cable TV
  • 7.5 Digital satellite TV
    • 7.5.1 Satellite for cable TV networks
    • 7.5.2 Satellite data broadcasting
    • 7.5.3 Satellite Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB)
• 8. IP-TV / Internet Content on Demand (I-COD)
• 9. Interactive TV
  • 9.1 TV home shopping / t-commerce
  • 9.2 Video-on-Demand (VoD)
  • 9.3 SkyTouch and SkyPlus100
• 10. Related reports

• Exhibit 1– Regional TV broadcasters