In Korea, the number of pay TV subscribers has fallen for three consecutive half-year periods, accelerating the "cord-cutting" trend. With the spread of online video services (OTT), the traditional pay TV market—IPTV, cable TV, and satellite broadcasting—is gradually shrinking.
According to the "Number of pay TV subscribers and market share for the first half of 2025," released by the Korea Media and Communications Commission on the 24th, the total number of pay TV subscribers in the first half of this year was tallied at 36,226,100. This is a decrease of 138,546 (0.38%) from the second half of last year (36,364,646). After recording 36.39 million in the second half of 2023, pay TV subscriptions have declined for three consecutive periods, with the drop widening. The first half of last year saw a decrease of only 5,755, but the second half fell by 19,964, and the first half of this year declined by more than 100,000.
By type, IPTV continued to grow, but its pace slowed. First-half IPTV subscriptions reached 21,414,521 (59.1% share), up 104,270, while cable TV fell by 182,044 to 12,091,056 (33.4%). Satellite broadcasting came to 2,720,523 (7.5%), down 60,772.
By operator, KT remained No. 1 with 9,028,900 IPTV subscribers and 2.72 million for Skylife satellite broadcasting. SK Broadband recorded 6,768,835 for IPTV and 2,785,114 for cable TV, while LG Uplus tallied 5,616,786 for IPTV and LG HelloVision had 3,435,058 for cable TV.
The commission said, "As OTT viewing spreads, churn from traditional pay TV is deepening," and noted, "The industry needs strategies in response to the changing market structure."