The government has moved to ease regulations on TV home shopping and T-commerce, but industry players say fundamental measures to overhaul the sector are missing. The overall direction of easing the burden of carriage fees is positive, but concrete implementation plans are lacking, and there is virtually no support for a platform shift tailored to the rapidly changing retail environment centered on mobile and live commerce, they said.
According to the home shopping industry on the 1st, the Korea Media and Communications Commission announced "measures to promote coexistence and vitality in home shopping" at its 12th general meeting on the 22nd and decided to push for easing the mandatory programming ratio for small and midsize enterprise products on TV home shopping and improving screen regulations for data home shopping (T-commerce). The plan includes lowering the minimum share of the data area on T-commerce screens from the current 50% to 25% and strengthening the function of mediating disputes over carriage fees between home shopping companies and IPTV and cable TV operators. The industry welcomes the overall stance of deregulation. A home shopping industry official said, "It is meaningful that the government has begun to broadly address the regulations the industry has continually raised as problems," adding, "Easing the SME programming obligation is seen as a practical policy that can be felt on the ground."
Home shopping companies are sensitive to whether the burden of carriage fees will be eased, as they spend 30% to 40% of sales on paid broadcasting carriage fees. As TV viewing declines and consumption slows, sales are falling while carriage fees continue to rise, drawing continued criticism that profitability has deteriorated. Another industry official said, "The carriage fee issue has been the industry's biggest pending matter, built up over years," and noted, "It is positive that the government has expressed its intent to strengthen the function of the compensation verification council and to actively mediate."
However, some in the industry say the measures remain at a declarative level. While the need to ease carriage fee conflicts was mentioned, no concrete standards were presented for how the government would intervene in practice and to what extent it would play a coordinating role. Lee Jong-u, a professor in the Department of Distribution and Marketing at Namseoul University, said, "The direction itself is right, but what role the government will actually play between paid broadcasting operators and home shopping companies is missing," adding, "There is much criticism that current carriage fees are excessive, but a declaration without concrete implementation plans has limits in solving the problem."
The industry cites "platform transition" as a more urgent issue. With the TV-based home shopping industry itself entering a phase of structural stagnation, simply easing regulations or adding channels will not easily bring consumers back, they say. In fact, the center of retail consumption has been rapidly shifting to mobile, short-form, and live commerce. As Naver, Kakao, Coupang, and China-based platforms expand the live commerce market, the main customer base for TV home shopping is aging into people in their 50s and 60s and older.
Yet the government's measures effectively exclude support related to digital platform transition or strengthening competitiveness in live commerce. A home shopping industry official said, "While various deregulation steps are urgent for the current home shopping industry, the fundamental problem is consumer attrition." Another industry official said, "Home shopping faces strict review and advertising regulations because it is a broadcaster, while live commerce and social media (SNS)-based sales channels are relatively loosely regulated," adding, "We also need discussions on a fair competitive environment where the same standards apply across all retail channels."
The industry also has significant concerns about the government's review of creating a T-commerce channel dedicated to small and midsize enterprises. Currently, including TV home shopping and T-commerce, a total of 12 operators run 17 channels in the home shopping sector. Potential new operators include Home&Shopping and Gongyoung Home Shopping. However, critics say that Home&Shopping and Gongyoung Home Shopping already serve as SME-focused channels and that, with the market itself saturated, launching a new channel would have little effect. An industry official said, "When TV-based purchasing itself is declining, adding channels will not revive the market."
Lee also said, "The home shopping market is already oversaturated, and the idea of creating yet another new channel does not align with reality," adding, "What is needed now is not expanding new channels, but support for how to pivot the existing industry to a digital focus and enhance its competitiveness."