Amid a string of mounting deficits, KBS, the pride of terrestrial broadcasting, has finally launched an emergency crisis management system and entered an emergency management regime.
KBS said today (14th) that, as a deficit in the 10-billion-won range is again expected this year, it will enter a high-intensity crisis management system covering not only the headquarters but all affiliates.
At the "2026 3rd quarter affiliate cooperation meeting" held that day, KBS President Park Jang-beom, who presided over the meeting, noted the realities the broadcasting industry faces with a somewhat solemn expression. Park said, "The entire broadcasting industry is in an extremely difficult situation, with a downhill trend due to the rapid changes in the media environment," he began. He then delivered a stinging rebuke, saying, "Perhaps because we have been complacent using the stable resource of license fees almost exclusively, there is actually no sense of crisis inside."
In fact, KBS recorded deficits in the 80-billion-won range last year and the 70-billion-won range the year before last, and has not been able to escape the quagmire of painful deficits over the past four years. Park said, "Although the deficit this year has decreased somewhat compared with last year, it is by no means a stage for absolute relief," and urged employees to awaken, saying, "Just as KBS endured through excruciating structural reforms during the past IMF foreign exchange crisis and the recent critical wave of separate collection of license fees, we must devise a clever survival strategy this time as well and definitely achieve a return to profitability."
With the activation of this crisis management system, KBS plans to shift to a companywide "financial risk management" system and focus all efforts on budget tightening and the creation of new revenue sources.
In particular, Park presented "tech innovation" as a breakthrough that will not lose hope amid the crisis. He urged active operational use of KBS's proprietary AI model "KAIROS" (KAIROS), which KBS recently developed and launched ambitiously. Park expressed strong confidence that if solid content competitiveness is combined with AI technological innovation, KBS can return to profitability in a relatively short time.
In fact, not only did "KBS News 9" retain its No. 1 nationwide viewership in the news category in the first half of this year, but KBS's official YouTube channel also held the top spot in views for six consecutive months, ranking first overall in the first half of the year.
Meanwhile, at the "3rd quarter affiliate cooperation meeting" held that day, a large number of heads from nine affiliates, including KBS Media and KBS N, attended along with President Park Jang-beom and the headquarters' management to engage in in-depth discussions on infinite growth strategies for returning to profitability to survive the second half of the year.<
[Photo] KBS
[OSEN]