KBS' Multicasting Plan May Corner Cable Channels
Published on | Source
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
KBS, the biggest of the country's four national television networks, plans to exploit multicasting technology to add to the number of channels beamed over the airwaves.
The announcement, however, has cable television operators and the rest of the pay-TV industry fuming, as they fear the possibilities of bulked-up terrestrial channel packages choking off their viewership.
Multicasting, or multimode services (MMS) as KBS prefers to call it, refers to the use of digital compression technology to broadcast several television channels in the bandwidth space of a current analog broadcast signal.
The television industry has been discussing multicast offerings since local stations first transmitted their signals digitally in 2001, and the government-mandated switch to all-digital broadcasting by 2012 clearly makes the possibilities more intriguing.
KBS currently has two terrestrial channels, KBS 1 and 2, and also has four channels provided to cable and television networks - KBS Prime, KBS Drama, KBS N Sports and KBS Joy.
According to the plans unveiled by KBS President Kim In-gyu, the state-run broadcaster plans to add a 24-hour news channel to its lineup. The seven KBS channels will be combined with the four channels of EBS, a broadcaster specializing in education and documentary programs, and other public channels such as KTV in a single package called "K-View", which is to be provided to digital television viewers for free.
The number of multicast channels could easily exceed 20 should MBC and SBS, the remaining national networks, decide to throw in their offerings as well.
The model suggested by KBS clearly takes a cue from Britain's Freeview services, a digital terrestrial television platform that is jointly run by five equal shareholders - the BBC, ITV, Sky, Channel 4 and transmitter operator Arqiva.
Although some technical issues remain, KBS claims it would be possible for a local station to beam about six digital channels on the wavelength now used for a single analog channel.
The Korea Communications Commission (KCC), is yet to make a decision on the KBS' plan.
Kim said that the multicasting will allow the delivery of more and better free television into people's home over the air.
However, cable television operators regard the plan as a declaration of war, as multicasting will threaten their existence.
With more than 15 million households signed up for cable television and telecommunications operators gaining customers for Internet protocol television (IPTV), Korea's pay-TV market has clearly expanded to a point of saturation.
The growth of the pay-TV industry has been reliant on content provided by the terrestrial network trio ― KBS, MBC and SBS.
A survey of 500 cable television subscribers in Seoul by the Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI) found that the viewers usually watch no more than 12 of the 70 or more channels available.
Aside from home shopping channels, most of the programs they watched such as dramas, entertainment and sports were the products of the national television stations, essentially retransmissions or reruns of terrestrial programming.
So it's easy to see why the idea of viewers getting these programs for free is a sobering thought for cable television operators.
The KBS plan is adding fuel to the already deteriorating relationship between terrestrial and pay-TV channels. KBS, MBC and SBS recently filed a lawsuit against five major cable system operators, T-Broad, CJ HelloVision, HCN, CMB and CNM, on charges of copyright infringement.
The national networks accuse the cable channels of retransmitting programs to digital cable television subscribers without their consent.
"Kim has no authority to decide whether to adopt MMS channels or not. It is a decision that should be made by policymakers", said a representative from the Korea Cable Television Association (KCTA).
"The presence of terrestrial networks is already dominating, and should these networks be allowed to operate multicast channels, this would threaten the existence of pay-TV channels. KBS should be more focused on its role as a public broadcaster, rather than plotting more ways to increase licensing fees and acquiring more channels".
Staff Reporter
KBS, the biggest of the country's four national television networks, plans to exploit multicasting technology to add to the number of channels beamed over the airwaves.
The announcement, however, has cable television operators and the rest of the pay-TV industry fuming, as they fear the possibilities of bulked-up terrestrial channel packages choking off their viewership.
Multicasting, or multimode services (MMS) as KBS prefers to call it, refers to the use of digital compression technology to broadcast several television channels in the bandwidth space of a current analog broadcast signal.
The television industry has been discussing multicast offerings since local stations first transmitted their signals digitally in 2001, and the government-mandated switch to all-digital broadcasting by 2012 clearly makes the possibilities more intriguing.
KBS currently has two terrestrial channels, KBS 1 and 2, and also has four channels provided to cable and television networks - KBS Prime, KBS Drama, KBS N Sports and KBS Joy.
According to the plans unveiled by KBS President Kim In-gyu, the state-run broadcaster plans to add a 24-hour news channel to its lineup. The seven KBS channels will be combined with the four channels of EBS, a broadcaster specializing in education and documentary programs, and other public channels such as KTV in a single package called "K-View", which is to be provided to digital television viewers for free.
The number of multicast channels could easily exceed 20 should MBC and SBS, the remaining national networks, decide to throw in their offerings as well.
The model suggested by KBS clearly takes a cue from Britain's Freeview services, a digital terrestrial television platform that is jointly run by five equal shareholders - the BBC, ITV, Sky, Channel 4 and transmitter operator Arqiva.
Although some technical issues remain, KBS claims it would be possible for a local station to beam about six digital channels on the wavelength now used for a single analog channel.
The Korea Communications Commission (KCC), is yet to make a decision on the KBS' plan.
Kim said that the multicasting will allow the delivery of more and better free television into people's home over the air.
However, cable television operators regard the plan as a declaration of war, as multicasting will threaten their existence.
With more than 15 million households signed up for cable television and telecommunications operators gaining customers for Internet protocol television (IPTV), Korea's pay-TV market has clearly expanded to a point of saturation.
The growth of the pay-TV industry has been reliant on content provided by the terrestrial network trio ― KBS, MBC and SBS.
A survey of 500 cable television subscribers in Seoul by the Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI) found that the viewers usually watch no more than 12 of the 70 or more channels available.
Aside from home shopping channels, most of the programs they watched such as dramas, entertainment and sports were the products of the national television stations, essentially retransmissions or reruns of terrestrial programming.
So it's easy to see why the idea of viewers getting these programs for free is a sobering thought for cable television operators.
The KBS plan is adding fuel to the already deteriorating relationship between terrestrial and pay-TV channels. KBS, MBC and SBS recently filed a lawsuit against five major cable system operators, T-Broad, CJ HelloVision, HCN, CMB and CNM, on charges of copyright infringement.
The national networks accuse the cable channels of retransmitting programs to digital cable television subscribers without their consent.
"Kim has no authority to decide whether to adopt MMS channels or not. It is a decision that should be made by policymakers", said a representative from the Korea Cable Television Association (KCTA).
"The presence of terrestrial networks is already dominating, and should these networks be allowed to operate multicast channels, this would threaten the existence of pay-TV channels. KBS should be more focused on its role as a public broadcaster, rather than plotting more ways to increase licensing fees and acquiring more channels".
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