KT, SK Broadband and LG U+ are uniting in the IPTV market

The Korea Internet TV Broadcasting Association (KIBA) said on Friday that Korea’s three major IPTV providers — KT, SK Broadband and LG U+ — are jointly investing 300 billion won ($230 million) to purchase content.

The agreement between the three IPTV companies, Kiba said, is to “restore the content value chain that is collapsing due to market monopoly.”

According to KIBA, aggressive investments by foreign companies and market dominance by foreign companies are hurting Korea’s content industry.

The video streaming service market in Korea, which includes both IPTV and so-called over-the-top (OTT) services, is a very competitive market.

IPTV, which stands for Internet Protocol Television, is different from OTT, as the former uses a dedicated network while the latter is provided through a normal internet connection. Only mobile carriers, which are network operators, can provide IPTV services through their own network.

Although IPTV providers and OTT companies work together to provide joint services in some cases, the two are in competition, with global OTT service providers such as Netflix aggressively expanding their investment and market share in recent years.

KT, SK Broadband, and LG U+ will jointly distribute “Alienoid Part 1” (2022), which is scheduled to be released in July, and plan to further strengthen cooperation in other fields.

Kiba said the companies are also discussing co-branding and joint promotions of each company’s content.

IPTV companies will implement the investment plan through a committee and expand cooperation with content production companies and investors as well.

Written by Shin Ha Ni [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]