Korea: IPTV group opens up
Rose Major ©RapidTVNews
| 20-07-2008
South Korea’s IPTV rivals have formed an industry association to represent their interests, as growth in the sector looks to have slowed.
The IPTV Industry Association has been given the go-ahead by the
Knowledge Economy Ministry and includes around 40 suppliers and
developers as well as broadcasters such as KBS and IPTV platform
operators including KT.
Among the association’s tasks will be seminars and exhibitions on and
for the industry, lobbying the government and working with IPTV
stakeholders in other countries.
Initially formed as a working group in early 2008, founder members
opened the association up in the hope of driving development of the
sector.
Market leader Hana TV, owned by Hanarotelecom, has seen its growth halt
in recent months. While the platform had around 850,000 subscribers at
the start of 2008, by the end of June, that figure had dwindled to
around 800,000. KT’s Mega TV is rapidly coming up behind Hana TV,
growing from 480,000 at the start of the year to 700,000 at end-June.
LG Dacom’s myLGtv only launched at the end of 2007 and has over 200,000
subs.
Plans for real-time broadcasting as well as on-demand IPTV offerings
are well advanced from all operators and should give the technology a
boost when services are introduced later in the year. However, reports
say that the operators are encountering problems in signing up content
for the platforms, with many domestic broadcasters and cable TV
channels unhappy about seeing more competition in the television sector.
Hanarotelecom’s recent takeover by SK Telecom will also lead to new
“quad play” bundled packages of TV, fixed and mobile telephony services
and internet access whicg the company hopes will restore growth.
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