In its first license renewal review of pay TV operators since its launch, the Korea Media and Communications Commission approved the license renewal for KT Skylife's satellite broadcasting business. The validity period is seven years.
The Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC) said on the 5th that it held its 15th plenary meeting and processed the renewal of KT Skylife's satellite broadcasting business license and the approval of OBS's out-of-area retransmission. In the renewal review, KT Skylife scored 697.52 points out of 1,000, exceeding the baseline of 650.
In this review, the Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC) reduced the existing 20 conditions and five recommendations to five core conditions. To ease overlapping regulations and lower operators' administrative burden, it reorganized the conditions around public mandates, including ensuring the sustainability of satellite broadcasting, strengthening the independence of the board of directors, and maintaining one-way satellite broadcasting services.
Kim Jong-cheol, chair of the Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC), said, "We will operate the system rationally so that the competitiveness and public interest of the pay TV industry are in harmony," urging satellite broadcasting to fulfill its original role, including resolving reception blind spots and preparing services for unification.
Satellite broadcasting has strong public value because, unlike cable TV and IPTV, it can provide broadcasting services even in mountainous and island regions where it is difficult to build terrestrial networks. As the pay TV market is being reshaped around IPTV and over-the-top (OTT) services, this renewal is being assessed as a case that reviewed both the survival strategy and public role of satellite broadcasting.
The Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC) also decided that day to refer Kyungnam Enterprises to the relevant authorities for violating ownership restrictions on terrestrial broadcasters under the Broadcasting Act. It further decided to issue a corrective order to Channel A for failing to meet the condition to appoint an independent auditor, and to provide administrative guidance to TV CHOSUN, JTBC, Channel A, and MBN for insufficient implementation of their business plans.