방송통신위원회 최시중 위원장이 31일 서울시 종로구 방송통신위원회에서 종합편성채널 및 보도전문채널 사업자 선정을 발표하고 있다.사진=연합뉴스
The Korea Communications Commission, the country’s communications and broadcasting regulator, announced today which of the six media companies that were vying to break into the broadcasting business will get the licenses to operate a new general channels in the country.
They are JoongAng Media Network, Chosun Ilbo, Dong-A Ilbo and Maeil Business Newspaper.
They will be allowed to operate cable TV channels authorized to play general content: news, dramas, entertainment, sports and documentaries. Currently, only three terrestrial broadcasters - KBS, MBC and SBS – enjoy that right.
Of the three companies JoongAng Media Network, whose broadcaster will be named jTBC, scored the highest in the evaluation scheme used by KCC's screening panel at 850.79 out of 1,000, KCC said in a press conference this morning.
In the 1980s, the military government decided to ban companies from operating both television and newspaper businesses in an attempt to diminish the power of the press and to control public opinion.
But in July 2009, media reform bills were passed by the National Assembly allowing such a practice, after months of much painstaking controversy in the political, corporate, media, and academic circuits.
The new laws are expected to lead to an emergence of powerful media titans and bring unprecedentedly enormous changes in the Korean media industry that is already undergoing a major metamorphosis with the advent of new technologies and devices with which people get news and information.
Meanwhile, of the five other media companies that sought to operate all-news channels, only Yonhap News Agency got the green light, according to KCC today.
Korea currently has only two such networks: YTN and Maekyung Broadcasting Network.
The KCC is expected to hand out the broadcasting licenses in March and the broadcasters will likely launch their new channels in the second half.
