Tving Wins Professional Baseball Broadcast Rights... Will It Accept 'Free Broadcast' Requests?

Securing Priority Negotiation Rights for New Media Broadcast Rights
KBO Advocates for 'Universal Viewing Rights'
Tving's Continued Deficits Make Acceptance Uncertain

The stands of professional sports, which had been closed due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, have reopened. On the first day of professional baseball spectators' admission, the 26th, citizens visiting Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul are cheering while maintaining social distance. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism decided to allow spectators to enter at 10% capacity starting from the professional baseball games held on this day. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Online video service (OTT) TVING has secured the exclusive negotiation rights for professional baseball wireless and wired broadcasting, sparking controversy over 'paid broadcasting.' Since professional baseball is a popular sport nationwide, there are calls to guarantee universal viewing rights, but at the same time, there are strong counterarguments that corporate property and business rights should not be infringed upon. Because there are no clear laws to mediate this, the controversy is expected to continue for some time.

According to industry sources on the 12th, TVING, which won the exclusive negotiation rights for professional baseball wireless and wired broadcasting, is currently negotiating specific contract amounts and service application scopes with the KBO.

Professional baseball broadcasting rights are divided into TV broadcasting rights and new media broadcasting rights. The TV broadcasting rights were contracted by the three terrestrial broadcasters in 2020 for 216 billion KRW over four years (54 billion KRW annually), and it is expected that these broadcasters will secure the contract again this year unless there is a major upset.

What TVING secured are the new media broadcasting rights. TVING is known to have offered the highest contract amount (about 45 billion KRW annually), surpassing consortia such as the Naver consortium (Naver, SK Telecom, LG Uplus, AfreecaTV). Considering that the previous bidders, the portal and telecom consortium (Naver, Daum, SK Broadband, KT, LG Uplus), paid 110 billion KRW over five years (22 billion KRW annually) in 2019, TVING's proposed amount this time is more than double.

The KBO is reportedly demanding free broadcasting in negotiations with TVING based on the argument that universal viewing rights must be guaranteed. Since the popularity of professional baseball stems from universal viewing rights, switching to paid broadcasting could make access to baseball more difficult. TVING is also reportedly considering free viewing options by lowering video quality and other methods.

However, since TVING needs to increase subscribers through professional baseball broadcasting and seek a business turnaround, it is in a position where accepting free broadcasting is difficult. TVING has been experiencing continuous losses over the past three years, with annual deficits expanding from 6.1 billion KRW in 2020 to 76.2 billion KRW in 2021 and 119.2 billion KRW in 2022.

Some argue that universal viewing rights are already guaranteed through TV broadcasting rights held by terrestrial and sports channels, raising questions about whether this should also apply to new media. In particular, there is debate over whether professional baseball should be considered a subject of universal viewing rights. The current Broadcasting Act defines universal viewing rights as 'the right of the general public to watch broadcasts related to sports competitions and other major events of great national interest.'

The administrative rule specifying national interest events, the notice on 'Sports competitions and other major events of great national interest,' limits the events subject to universal viewing rights to domestic and international sports competitions such as the Summer and Winter Olympics, the Asian Games, and World Cup matches involving adult male and female national teams. Traditionally, this right has been guaranteed mainly for international events like the Olympics and the World Cup. Although professional baseball is a nationally popular sport, the legal basis for claiming that universal viewing rights should be guaranteed exclusively for professional baseball is somewhat weak.

Within the broadcasting industry, there are calls to clearly define the scope of universal viewing rights at the level of specific enforcement decrees or notices. An industry insider emphasized, "Universal viewing rights have been defined very narrowly, and the institutional framework for securing direct rights for operators and viewers is insufficient. There is a need to establish the concept and policies of universal viewing rights suitable for the multi-media, multi-channel era."

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