Abolition of the 33% Rule for Paid Broadcasting... Rapid Review of Telecom and Broadcasting M&A Cases

'Minimum Regulation' Emphasis in 'Media Development Plan' Announcement
Abolition of 33% Pay TV Market Share Cap...Simplification of M&A Review Procedures

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] The regulation limiting the market share of paid broadcasting to 33%, which was considered a 'Galapagos' regulation in the telecommunications and broadcasting industry, will be abolished. As M&A between telecommunications and broadcasting companies such as SK Broadband and T-Broad, LG Uplus and HelloVision becomes active, a 'consultative body' consisting of the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Fair Trade Commission, and the Korea Communications Commission will be formed to reduce review procedures and improve efficiency.

On the 22nd, the government announced the 'Digital Media Ecosystem Development Plan' based on these points. Amid the full-scale offensive of foreign platforms such as Netflix and YouTube, the core is to eliminate unnecessary regulations and encourage content investment to strengthen the domestic media industry's capabilities.

First, the market share regulation limiting individual SO and IPTV market shares to one-third will be completely abolished. Paid broadcasting pricing plans will change from an approval system to a notification system. For video content distributed online through OTT operators, a self-rating system will be introduced to allow autonomous classification without going through the Video Rating Board. In addition, when conducting M&A in the broadcasting and telecommunications sector, a 'consultative body' among the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Fair Trade Commission, and the Korea Communications Commission will be formed and operated. This is intended to prevent delays in M&A reviews that go through the three ministries and to simplify procedures.

Support for media creators such as one-person YouTubers will also be expanded. A 'one-person media cluster' will be created to provide full-cycle support including content planning, production, commercialization, and overseas expansion. A cultural content fund exceeding a total scale of 1 trillion won will be established, and the current production cost tax credit applied to film and broadcasting content will be expanded to online video content distributed through OTT. Additionally, support for technology-converged immersive content such as short-form and AR will be increased.

Through these deregulations and content investments, the government plans to support the domestic media market to reach a scale of 10 trillion won, content exports of 13.42 billion dollars, and at least five global platform companies by 2022. Lee Tae-hee, Director of Network Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, "We agreed to boldly ease existing regulations under the principle of minimum regulation so that platforms can innovate in the changing media market, and to be cautious about establishing new regulations," adding, "We will improve the system in a direction that expands the autonomy of domestic platforms."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.