Cable TV Industry "Needs to Establish Reasonable Standards for Content Compensation"

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] The cable TV industry has demanded the government to establish reasonable and objective standards for content fees.

On the 21st, the 'Korea Cable TV Broadcasting Station (SO) Council,' a consultative body of 90 comprehensive wired broadcasting member companies under the Korea Cable TV Broadcasting Association, issued a statement urging the government to resolve the issue of content usage fees. In the statement, the SO Council emphasized that they are suffering from a "quadruple burden" due to ▲increases in terrestrial retransmission fees ▲requests for program fee increases from general programming channels and some PP (program providers) ▲and reductions in transmission fees from TV home shopping channels.

The SO Council appealed, "Although various indicators such as terrestrial broadcast viewership ratings and production costs are on a declining trend, terrestrial broadcasters are still demanding increases in retransmission fees," adding, "General programming channels and some PPs are also requesting program fee increases, citing rising viewership and the need to receive fair compensation for content."

According to the SO Council, terrestrial broadcasters' retransmission revenue surged by 508% from 2012, when cable TV began paying retransmission fees, to 2019. Therefore, conflicts and disputes among businesses regarding content fees are expected to continue occurring and are developing into a phase that is difficult to resolve easily, making institutional improvements essential.

The SO Council suggested institutional improvement measures such as ▲establishing a content fee calculation committee ▲introducing a fixed-rate content usage fee system linked to subscription revenue ▲imposing equal obligations and preparing fair trade regulatory measures between platform operators and content providers. The SO Council emphasized, "Unregulated increases in content usage fees will lead to the collapse of cable TV operators already suffering from deteriorating profitability," and "It will also entrench abnormal transactions that drive small and medium SO and PP operators, who are at a negotiating disadvantage, out of the market."

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