Free Content on Smart TVs... Samsung and LG Expand 'Exclusive Channels' Market

Samsung TV Plus News Channel
Photo by Samsung Electronics

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are strengthening their 'exclusive channel' services that provide free content through their smart TVs in the global market.

According to the industry on the 14th, Samsung Electronics' exclusive channel 'Samsung TV Plus,' separately prepared on its smart TVs, operates about 1,000 channels in 23 countries including South Korea, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany as of the first half of this year. Both the number of service countries and channels have significantly increased from 13 countries and 742 channels at the beginning of this year. They plan to double the number of service countries by the end of the year and are expanding their reach according to this goal.

Samsung TV Plus is a service that allows Samsung smart TV users to enjoy movies, dramas, entertainment, news, sports, and other content for free on independent channels as long as they are connected to the internet. The content provided here is programmed focusing on genres popular in the local countries. Since the service first started in South Korea in 2015, it has been expanding its scope to users worldwide. Starting with the United States in September last year, as of April this year, free content is also provided through Samsung's mobile devices in countries such as South Korea, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, and India.

This service is interpreted as an attempt by TV manufacturers to maintain competitiveness in the traditional TV market in response to the onslaught of new media platforms such as online video services (OTT). This area is expected to be further strengthened in the future. Earlier, Kim Hyun-suk, President of Samsung Electronics' Consumer Electronics (CE) division, declared at the regular shareholders' meeting in March, "We will strengthen the TV Plus service through 160 million Samsung TVs worldwide and continue to develop screen-based innovations, including newly offering fitness programs."

LG Electronics' 'LG Channel' platform provided through Smart TV
Photo by LG Electronics

LG Electronics is also operating 'LG Channels,' which currently provides about 1,600 channels in 14 countries through its smart TVs, and plans to additionally launch this service in 11 European countries including the Netherlands and Switzerland within this year. In this case, the number of service countries and channels will increase to a total of 25 countries and about 1,900 channels. Compared to starting the service with 50 channels in 2015, this represents nearly a 40-fold increase in scale. In eight countries in Europe, the Americas, and South America that have a strong interest in Korean Wave (Hallyu), K-content channels are also provided.

According to LG Electronics, as a result of expanding free content and improving user convenience, the number of customers watching LG Channels and the viewing time worldwide have both more than doubled compared to last year. Currently, the proportion of smart TVs among the TVs LG Electronics ships worldwide exceeds 83%, and the number of countries offering LG Channels is expected to increase in the future.

Jung Sung-hyun, Head of HE Service Planning and Operations at LG Electronics, said, "We will continuously strengthen the LG Channels service so that more customers can experience the differentiated value unique to LG TVs."

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