Ahead of the June 1 Local Elections, Cable TV Industry Faces Critical Moment... Candidate Interviews and Debates Begin

SKB Hosts Gyeonggi Province Governor and Incheon Mayor Candidate Debate
D'Live Operates 'Election Situation Room' Segment
LG HelloVision Discloses Candidate Information up to Local Councilors
HCN Forms Special Election Coverage Team

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] As the 8th nationwide local elections to be held on the 1st of next month approach, the cable TV industry is bustling. Following IPTV, competition in the media industry has intensified with online video services (OTT), making this an opportunity to showcase the unique characteristics of regional channels that differentiate them from terrestrial and comprehensive programming channels.

According to the related industry on the 6th, cable TV broadcasters have scheduled special broadcast programs ahead of the June 1 local elections this year, covering the election preparation status of candidates for metropolitan governors, superintendents of education, and basic local government heads, as well as candidate-specific interviews, debates, and behind-the-scenes election offensives.

SK Broadband plans to hold a debate with Gyeonggi Province governor candidates on the 9th. Hosted by Professor Shin Yul of Myongji University (Department of Political Science and Diplomacy), Kim Dong-yeon, the Democratic Party candidate, and Kim Eun-hye, the People’s Party candidate, will introduce their pledges and engage in debate. The Incheon mayoral candidate debate will be held on the 16th, with Park Nam-chun of the Democratic Party, Yoo Jeong-bok of the People Power Party, and Lee Jeong-mi of the Justice Party participating.

D'Live has been delivering updates on preliminary candidates’ status, primary election progress, and candidate pledge analyses for each electoral district through the 'June 1 Local Election Situation Room' segment since March. From the second week of May, they will invite 30 candidates for 15 district mayor positions in Seoul to the studio for interviews. In the Gyeonggi region, they plan to conduct on-site interviews with 28 candidates for 14 city and county mayor positions. Starting May 19, the first day of the election period, D'Live will produce and air four short-form dramas related to voting Q&A.

Earlier, LG HelloVision also began preparing for local election broadcasts last month under the slogan ‘Vision 2022, Hope for the Region!’ They provide information on candidates not only for metropolitan governors and superintendents of education but also for basic local government heads and metropolitan and basic council members. Programs have been prepared to examine candidate trends and election issues by region. To promote policy elections where residents directly participate in pledge development, a segment called ‘Our Neighborhood Hope Pledge’ has been created. The collected pledges will be delivered to candidates and linked to local issue solutions.

LG HelloVision 'Our Neighborhood Hope Pledge' Corner Still Cut

HCN, a cable broadcaster acquired by the KT Group, is also forming a special coverage team ahead of the local elections. They will conduct opinion polls to monitor regional public sentiment and closely cover candidates from basic local government heads to council members.

The cable TV industry, which has jointly developed vote-counting broadcast systems since 2008, plans to create a joint vote-counting broadcast system again this year. The Korea Cable TV Broadcasting Association announced a bid for the development of a cable TV vote-counting broadcast system for the June 1 local elections last September. The core goal is to provide election information differentiated from terrestrial and comprehensive programming channels.

Cable TV companies plan to strengthen regionally focused content and secure differentiated competitiveness as regional channels. Ryu Jong-moon, CEO of D'Live Seoul-Gyeonggi Cable TV, said, “Since this is an important election to choose local workers, we will do our best to leverage the advantages of local media to deliver the fastest and most accurate information to local residents.”

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