By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
Park Tae-hwan's sensational grabbing of South Korea's first-ever Olympic gold in swimming on Sunday was one stunning story, but the nation's top three television networks all had a shot at telling it in their own way.
According to AGB Nielsen Media Research, MBC did best as it secured 17.4 percent of viewers, followed by SBS with 13.1 percent and KBS locking in less than 12 percent. However, this didn't carry significance for long as ratings varied in other matches, without leaving one solid broadcasting leader for the Beijing Olympics.
In fact, frequent mistakes and near-identical commentaries are starting to annoy television audiences who say they're stuck with three look-alikes for the next two weeks.
``I really can't tell the difference between what's what,'' says Kim Kyo-min, a 23-year-old college student, who has been closely following the Summer Games since last week's opening.
Many seem to share the same complaints, as unhappy viewers are crowding online forums of the three networks to urge resumption of regular programming.
``There's no reason why all three networks should air the Games at once,'' says media critic Jeong Tae-yun. ``It's a waste of time and money.''
However, broadcasters don't see it this way with lucrative commercial deals at stake.
According to the Korea Broadcast Advertising Corporation (KOBACCO), KBS, MBC and SBS together paid FIFA, the official world cup organizer, about 24 billion won to win airing rights for the 2006 Germany World Cup.
``Each of them came out making about 20 billion won in profits from ad sales, so it's definitely a winning business,'' said one KOBACCO official, who asked not to be named. ``Considering the larger scale of the Olympics, why wouldn't they compete?''
Another reason for the tight competition is because the 2008 Beijing Olympics is virtually the last Games in which all three networks will be engaged before SBS takes sole rights, starting with the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and the 2012 Olympics in London, up to the 2016 summer games.
``It's natural to see the competition fiercer this time around because it might be their last chance to reap big sales at least for the next few years,'' said an official of the Korea Broadcasters Association.
jhan@koreatimes.co.kr
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[단독] 르노삼성, 본사 모델로 한국 공략
