Full-Scale Discussions on OTT Legislation Begin: "Bold Deregulation Needed"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 31st that it has launched the "Internet Video Service Legal System Research Group" to diagnose the media structural reorganization caused by the spread of online video services (OTT) and to establish desirable directions for legal system improvements.

The research group consists of about 20 members, including university professors related to media, law, economics, and management, research institutions, domestic and international OTT company officials such as Wavve and Watcha, and public-private officials including the Ministry of Science and ICT.

The government has maintained a "minimum regulation principle," refraining from strengthening regulations based on the judgment that internet video services are in the early growth stage and that promoting competition in the media and content market greatly benefits users. However, with the recent rapid media structural reorganization, the National Assembly has proposed bills to include OTT under the Broadcasting Act and IPTV Act, increasing the need for discussions on future legal system reforms.

The first meeting on this day proceeded with a presentation titled "Diagnosis of the Broadcasting Media Market and Directions for Legal System Improvement" by Jongwon Lee, Head of the Broadcasting Media Research Division at the Korea Information Society Development Institute, followed by a discussion among attendees.

In his presentation, Head Lee diagnosed that "content consumption and distribution through the internet is an inevitable technological and market evolution direction, and comprehensive reform of the system is necessary for innovation in the domestic media market amid global competition."

He emphasized, "It is necessary to distinguish between the public domain, which has the responsibility to realize public interest, and digital media such as paid broadcasting and OTT that require competition and innovation, and to boldly ease regulations such as entry and advertising restrictions on digital media."

Seokyoung Jang, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, “Following comprehensive cable broadcasting in 1995 and IPTV in 2008, OTT is emerging as a new media. Since these changes contain both risks and opportunities, it is necessary to establish a system that can maximize positive factors, and we expect the research group to play an active role in this.”

The Ministry of Science and ICT also announced in the "Digital Media Ecosystem Development Plan" released in June that it plans to carefully introduce new regulations and boldly ease existing regulations so that media platforms can grow based on autonomy.

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