By Kim Tong-hyung
Desperate attempts by KBS to make viewers pay more for its services may have finally reached a limit.
While pressing the government to raise the monthly television license fee from the current 2,500 won to 4,000 won, the state-run broadcaster also revealed a desire to expand the proposed requirement to users of mobile Internet devices such as smartphones and tablet computers.
KBS is also pushing for the fees to be elevated ''automatically'' every three years to reflect inflation, according to proposals it submitted to the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), the country's broadcasting and telecommunications regulator.
The compulsory license fee is currently attached to the electricity bills of households that own televisions. However, it's becoming easier for viewers to avoid paying it because of advancements in technology that have expanded television access beyond the domestic television set.
An increasing number of people are watching television shows on mobile devices. Computers can double as televisions when installed with television tuner cards.
Customers unwilling to pay their license fee can do so by replacing their televisions with computer monitors that can receive signals through HDMI (high-definition multimedia interface) cables.
KBS, apparently, sees this as an opportunity to squeeze more from viewers.
''Technology has expanded the concept of television. Aside from the traditional television set, broadcasts are now seen on mobile phones and other terminals with digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) reception and also on portable computers and telecommunications devices through the Internet,'' said a KBS official.
''Extending the license fee to include other devices and linking the payment to inflation were our long-term policy suggestions. This doesn't mean we are expecting the changes to be immediately employed after the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) approves the raise in fees, if they do. We aren't planning to charge smartphone users additionally if they are already paying the license fee for their television sets.''
Yang Moon-seok, one of the KCC's five commissioners who holds the right to vote on policy decisions, regards the demands made by KBS as ridiculous. He is against raising the fees to 4,000 won a month too.
''The license fee has been collected on a per-household base. KBS is suggesting changes that will enable it to collect on a per-person base. You have to wonder whether KBS invented these policy suggestions as a negotiation ploy as it tries to get the fee elevated to 4,000 won,'' he said.
''We have to consider the television license fee in a similar way to utility costs. And you will never see the government raise a utility charge by 60 percent at once.''
The board of directors at KBS agreed to propose the elevated fee to the KCC at its meeting earlier this month. However, the meeting was boycotted by board members picked by the opposition Democratic Party. Broadcasting policies approved by the KCC are subsequently subject to parliamentary discussions.
It's hard to say that 4,000 won a month would qualify as a crippling financial burden for households above the low-income bracket. However, there has been significant resistance toward the potential fee hike as KBS continues to face questions about its impartiality and competitiveness as a public broadcaster.
KBS claims that the increased income they seek is essential for it to be immune from corporate and political pressure and protect its role as an independent media organization. However, the network hasn't made any promises to scale back its advertising business.
Desperate attempts by KBS to make viewers pay more for its services may have finally reached a limit.
While pressing the government to raise the monthly television license fee from the current 2,500 won to 4,000 won, the state-run broadcaster also revealed a desire to expand the proposed requirement to users of mobile Internet devices such as smartphones and tablet computers.
KBS is also pushing for the fees to be elevated ''automatically'' every three years to reflect inflation, according to proposals it submitted to the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), the country's broadcasting and telecommunications regulator.
The compulsory license fee is currently attached to the electricity bills of households that own televisions. However, it's becoming easier for viewers to avoid paying it because of advancements in technology that have expanded television access beyond the domestic television set.
An increasing number of people are watching television shows on mobile devices. Computers can double as televisions when installed with television tuner cards.
Customers unwilling to pay their license fee can do so by replacing their televisions with computer monitors that can receive signals through HDMI (high-definition multimedia interface) cables.
KBS, apparently, sees this as an opportunity to squeeze more from viewers.
''Technology has expanded the concept of television. Aside from the traditional television set, broadcasts are now seen on mobile phones and other terminals with digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) reception and also on portable computers and telecommunications devices through the Internet,'' said a KBS official.
''Extending the license fee to include other devices and linking the payment to inflation were our long-term policy suggestions. This doesn't mean we are expecting the changes to be immediately employed after the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) approves the raise in fees, if they do. We aren't planning to charge smartphone users additionally if they are already paying the license fee for their television sets.''
Yang Moon-seok, one of the KCC's five commissioners who holds the right to vote on policy decisions, regards the demands made by KBS as ridiculous. He is against raising the fees to 4,000 won a month too.
''The license fee has been collected on a per-household base. KBS is suggesting changes that will enable it to collect on a per-person base. You have to wonder whether KBS invented these policy suggestions as a negotiation ploy as it tries to get the fee elevated to 4,000 won,'' he said.
''We have to consider the television license fee in a similar way to utility costs. And you will never see the government raise a utility charge by 60 percent at once.''
The board of directors at KBS agreed to propose the elevated fee to the KCC at its meeting earlier this month. However, the meeting was boycotted by board members picked by the opposition Democratic Party. Broadcasting policies approved by the KCC are subsequently subject to parliamentary discussions.
It's hard to say that 4,000 won a month would qualify as a crippling financial burden for households above the low-income bracket. However, there has been significant resistance toward the potential fee hike as KBS continues to face questions about its impartiality and competitiveness as a public broadcaster.
KBS claims that the increased income they seek is essential for it to be immune from corporate and political pressure and protect its role as an independent media organization. However, the network hasn't made any promises to scale back its advertising business.
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