Twelve South Korean cable TV companies have been holding emergency meetings once a month since March, grappling with the growing threat of extinction as their subscribers, revenue, and operating profits continue to plunge. The industry fears the market could disappear entirely. In these meetings, they have urged the government to adjust policies to reflect the rise of online video services (OTT) and explored additional revenue opportunities, such as regional tourism projects. “There is a pervasive sense of crisis that if things continue like this, we will all go under,” one industry insider said.
Cable TV, which ushered in the era of paid TV in South Korea in 1995, is sinking deeper into trouble. The demand for key cable TV channels, such as music, golf, and fishing, has dwindled under pressure from YouTube, while OTT platforms have steadily eroded the market, accelerating the loss of subscribers. Compounding the issue, home shopping channels, once a major revenue source, are pulling back as they struggle to compete with e-commerce platforms like Coupang.
In the late 2000s, cable TV was considered a “golden goose.” When t-broad acquired Qrix Holdings, another cable TV company, in 2009, the value per subscriber was reportedly around 1 million won. However, after the three major telecom companies launched internet TV (IPTV) services and began bundling TV, internet, and mobile services, cable TV subscriptions peaked at 15.14 million in 2009 before beginning a sharp decline, dropping to 12.54 million by the second half of last year.
The first stage of decline was the reduced influence of specialized channels such as music, golf, and fishing. Many subscribers had signed up for cable TV to watch these niche channels, which were hard to find on terrestrial TV. However, many have since migrated to YouTube and other platforms. “The surge in hobby-related YouTube channels, combined with broadcasters posting highlights of their programs on YouTube, has made cable TV less appealing,” one industry official explained.
The second stage was the rapid growth of OTT platforms like Netflix and Tving, which accelerated the trend of “cord-cutting” (canceling paid TV subscriptions). This has led to a sharp drop in revenue from paid video-on-demand (VOD) services, once a lucrative add-on. Cable TV’s paid VOD revenue plummeted from 143.7 billion won in 2019 to 67.3 billion won last year, a drop of more than 50 percent in four years. With so much content available on OTT platforms, consumers see little reason to pay extra for VOD. As a result, some cable TV companies have decided to discontinue free VOD services for terrestrial broadcasts, which are costly to maintain.
Around the same time, the collapse of home shopping channels dealt a critical blow to cable TV. This has led to growing tensions between cable companies and home shopping operators, who are finding it increasingly difficult to justify the hefty fees they pay for TV airtime as shopping shifts from TV to mobile platforms like smartphones. “Home shopping companies are now focusing more on live commerce via smartphones than on traditional TV broadcasts,” said one home shopping official.
As the cable TV industry struggles to find a path to recovery, companies are increasingly turning to new business ventures rather than focusing on expanding their subscriber base. Last month, LG HelloVision opened a 7,230-square-meter cultural complex in Incheon, marking its entry into the cultural sector. The company plans to grow three “regionally based” new businesses, including selling local small business products and offering digital education platforms. “We have been operating in local regions for a long time, so we can leverage our existing networks. Conversely, if these new businesses help revitalize the local economy, we could see a resurgence in cable TV subscriptions,” a company representative said.
D’live, another cable TV operator, is strengthening its Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV (FAST) business. D’live offers a service that allows regular TVs to function like smart TVs, enabling users to access OTT platforms directly. This service also includes D’live’s own FAST channels. “We currently operate 20 channels, including the animation ‘Larva’ and the documentary ‘World Theme Travel,’ and aim to increase this to 100 channels by next year,” the company said.
