[Click eStock] "KT's Market Share 35% with Hyundai HCN Acquisition... Content Negotiation Power Up"

Increasing Market Share Is Important, but Enhancing Content Capabilities Itself Is Also Crucial

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] KT's victory in the acquisition battle for Hyundai HCN is expected to solidify its position as the number one player in the paid broadcasting market and enhance its content negotiation power. However, analysts suggest that if KT fails to improve its content capabilities, this acquisition may not be a significant positive factor.

On the 28th, Ebest Investment & Securities maintained a 'Neutral' investment rating on KT and kept the target price at 23,000 KRW. The previous day's closing price was 23,600 KRW. Kim Hyunyong, a researcher at Ebest Investment & Securities, stated, "There is a high likelihood that KT will maintain or strengthen its negotiation advantage in content sourcing," but added, "Given that the entire paid broadcasting platform is losing ground to online video services (OTT) in competition, without enhancing content capabilities, the fundamental improvement for KT from this acquisition is estimated to be less than 5%."

Earlier, Hyundai Department Store Group's comprehensive cable broadcasting business operator Hyundai HCN announced on the 27th that KT Skylife was selected as the preferred bidder for its sale. If the acquisition is completed, KT's market share will become overwhelmingly number one. As of the end of last year, KT Skylife held a 31.52% share of the paid broadcasting market. Adding Hyundai HCN's 3.95% brings the total to 35.47%. This would create a gap of more than 10 percentage points over the second-place LG Uplus and LG HelloVision (24.91%).

However, the issue of being a market-dominant operator remains a variable. KT previously attempted to acquire D'Live starting in 2018 but was hindered by similar controversies. Although regulations limiting paid broadcasting market share to 33% have been abolished, there is still potential for public opposition.

Therefore, it is expected that KT, which is already close to a 35% market share, will not acquire another operator. Among cable TV companies, only the third-ranked D'Live (6.0% market share) and fourth-ranked CMB (4.6% market share) remain. Researcher Kim predicted, "Potential acquirers of the remaining operators will be narrowed down to SKT or LGU," and added, "The third-ranked SKT is expected to pursue mergers and acquisitions more aggressively than the second-ranked LGU."

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