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IPTV gains momentum in South Korea
IPTV is gaining momentum in South Korea, where some 90% of households already have pay TV boxes, either as a cable box or a satellite dish. Hanaro Telecom, the leading IPTV provider, has drawn more than 500,000 customers for its Hana TV over the past 12 months, and expects the figure to double by early in 2008.
KT, South Korea’s fixed-line telephone and broadband line operator, is also a major player in the market with its Mega TV service.
Hanaro claims that it is the world's leading IPTV provider in terms of quality of service and rate of growth. The company expects that it will become the largest player in the world in terms of the number of subscribers within this year, passing Hong Kong's PCCW which has around 820,000 users.
The chief marketing officer of Hanaro estimates that the firm has accumulated more than 70,000 programmes bought from 200 providers worldwide, available at any time a user wants to watch them. There are movies, TV dramas, documentaries, music videos, cartoons, sports, educational programmes, and adult shows for viewers aged 19 and above.
In Korea, KT, the network giant, launched IPTV in 2004 on a limited scale. Many video-on-demand or pay-per-view services at hotels and other closed networks are operated this way, too. Only one year old, Hanaro is a late starter, but its growth rate has been overwhelming. Hana TV is growing at an unprecedented pace, positioning itself as the leader of IPTV service.
Competition with other media remains a big concern for IPTV's future in South Korea. Another critical point is that the government's bureaucracy is too rigid and obtuse to catch up with the technologies.
Since there are no specific laws dealing with such a format for broadcasting, the Korean Government has not allowed IPTV services to provide real-time broadcasting in order to prevent protests from traditional broadcasters. That is why IPTV services have a 12-hour delay in broadcasting local TV dramas and why they don't have live news and sports programmes.
This is a result of a tug-of-war between two government groups. The Ministry of Information and Communication has been working to lift the ban on real time broadcasting. Meanwhile, the Korea Broadcasting Commission, which represents the interests of traditional TV media, has been strictly against the ministry's drive.
The stalemate is expected to continue for some time.
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