Ministry of Science and ICT Conducts 2021 Paid Broadcasting Service Quality Evaluation

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 2nd that it will conduct quality evaluations for all paid broadcasting services, including IPTV, cable TV, and satellite broadcasting.

This year's quality evaluation of paid broadcasting services will cover all 18 paid broadcasting companies, including IPTV, multiple system operators (MSOs), satellite, and individual system operators (SOs). To ensure reliable evaluations, the video perceptual quality user evaluation panel will consist of approximately 2,000 participants, and for items difficult to quantify, a user satisfaction survey will be conducted with 1,000 participants.

The evaluation items remain the same as last year, assessing a total of seven indicators: ▲channel volume level ▲channel switching time ▲VOD advertisement duration and frequency ▲set-top box startup time ▲content diversity ▲video perceptual quality ▲user satisfaction. However, for the content diversity item, the focus has shifted from merely counting the number of video-on-demand (VOD) offerings to also including whether and to what extent popular content preferred by users is provided. Additionally, the user satisfaction survey now includes items on set-top box replacement guidance and compliance, as well as cancellation satisfaction, alongside the existing service subscription, installation, and usage satisfaction surveys.

A Ministry of Science and ICT official stated, “We are currently working on legal amendments to reflect the basis for paid broadcasting quality evaluations, which is presently stipulated only in the ‘Framework Act on Telecommunications,’ into the ‘Broadcasting Act’ and the ‘Internet Multimedia Broadcasting Business Act.’ Once legislation is promptly completed, the institutional foundation for quality evaluations will be firmly established.”

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