By Cho Jin-seo Staff Reporter TU Media said Tuesday that it has downsized its organization to better cope with mounting losses from its satellite DMB (digital multimedia broadcasting) TV business. The company said that it has merged its eight departments into four and will move a large portion of its workforce to sister companies in the SK Telecom group. TU Media is the sole operator of the satellite DMB broadcast, which is a unique mobile TV service. Terrestrial DMB, another type of mobile TV, is also suffering from financial difficulties because of poor ad sales. ``Restructuring of the organization was necessary for the survival of the company, as the competition intensifies and losses keep piling up,'' the company said in a release. According to E-daily news service, TU is letting go of as many as 60 of its 200 employees. The company said the number is not definite, and it will give utmost support for the leaving workers to find new jobs. With the slogan of ``TV in your palm,'' DMB was lauded by the government and the media as evidence of South Korea's prowess in the telecommunication technology sector. But the DMB businesses, whether it is the satellite type or the terrestrial type, have never been profitable as the companies failed to garner significant revenue from advertisements. The accumulated debt at TU Media is believed to have reached 270 billion won at the end of last year, and the number of subscribers stopped growing at around 1.2 million in the summer. If the trend continues, bankruptcy seems inevitable this year as the accumulated loss is about to devour its capital. From January to September last year, the firm had 52.5 billion won in net losses. Though the broadcasting industry usually thrives on advertisement income, TU media sold only 1.5 billion won worth of advertisements during the nine months, which was virtually nil ― about 96 percent of its revenue, some 86 billion won, came from subscription fees, which range from 6,300 won to 11,000 won per month for each user. Feeling pressure from a worsening cash crunch, TU Media has been demanding more investment from its shareholders, notably SK Telecom. SK Telecom is the largest shareholder at 32.7 percent. It is also the only telecom company that sells the satellite DMB phones, while two other telecom firms, KTF and LG Telecom, have opted for alternative platform called Terrestrial DMB, which is free. SK Telecom, however, has been reluctant in rescuing TU Media. The government has been of little help to the firm, as it has blocked TU Media from re-transmitting four popular terrestrial channels ― KBS, MBC, SBS and EBS ― on DMB TV phones due to pressure from regional cable TV operators. indizio@koreatimes.co.kr