"Wavve, TVing, and Watcha Unite" Launch of Korea OTT Council

This Month's Steering Committee Kickoff Meeting, Policy Development and Opinion Sharing Activities 진행

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] Domestic online video service (OTT) providers in South Korea have organized themselves to speak with one voice on issues related to copyright and media regulations.

On the 2nd, domestic OTT companies such as Wavve, TVING, and Watcha announced the launch of the Korea OTT Council (OTT Council) and their intention to pursue joint cooperation in policy areas. With the establishment of the council, the industry plans to continue discussions to promote the development of the OTT industry and improve the business environment.

The OTT Council will initially focus on key tasks including ▲raising opinions on OTT regulation improvements ▲promoting copyright system reforms ▲improving unfair and discriminatory conditions such as network usage fees ▲pursuing joint legal and research projects ▲deriving business cooperation plans such as R&D ▲and policy promotion.

The OTT Council is co-chaired by Lee Taehyun, CEO of Content Wave, Yang Ji-eul, CEO of TVING, and Park Taehoon, CEO of Watcha, and operates mainly through an executive committee composed of executives from each company. The working organization is divided into policy, public relations, and business cooperation subcommittees.

The OTT Music Copyright Countermeasure Council, which is conducting administrative litigation against the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism regarding music copyrights and handling collective negotiations, will be maintained as a separate organization to ensure continuity of discussions.

The OTT Council plans to hold a kickoff meeting of the executive committee within this month, followed by regular monthly meetings, and will continue activities such as policy seminars and press briefings as needed. Although the council starts with three companies, it intends to keep the door open to other OTT providers wishing to participate and expand the organization.

Lee Heeju, Chairperson of the OTT Council’s Executive Committee, stated, “Last year, the government announced measures to ease media regulations and promote OTT at the pan-government level, but related ministries and the National Assembly have instead discussed tightening regulations, causing great confusion in the industry and increasing business uncertainty. We will work to ensure the OTT industry can speak strongly with one voice on policy issues and explore cooperation plans across various fields,” explaining the purpose of the launch.

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