KT condemns pay TV rule passage

By Yoon Sung-won

KT expressed regret over a National Assembly decision to prohibit any one company from dominating the local pay for TV market, Monday.

“It is unprecedented in the world to regulate the market share,” KT, the nation's largest fixed-line operator, said in a statement. “The regulation that limits viewers' rights and a company's freedom to run its business is highly likely to be unconstitutional, and therefore, it must be eased or abolished. Otherwise we will start a legal fight against its unconstitutionality.”

Its subsidiary, KT Skylife, also said, “The National Assembly's approval was against ongoing controversy over legislation and the continued request for more discussion. We also regret that the bill did not consider the right to live of those who work in the satellite broadcasting industry.”

The National Assembly said it has organized a subcommittee to judge the bill it passed on Monday.

The bill stipulates that a company cannot hold more than one-third market share of the nation's entire pay TV industry, added to the shares held by the company's affiliates and other related parties. It also says that such a company is banned from receiving more customers.

KT operates an internet protocol television service (IPTV) and KT Skylife runs satellite broadcasting channels.

The bill caused controversy because they targeted the companies which jointly hold more than 30 percent of the local pay TV market. KT criticized that the bill is designed to target a certain business while other cable television service providers said the regulation is needed to encourage fair competition in the market.

KT has requested the National Assembly to revise the bill for raising the upper limit of market share to 50 percent, up from the current one-third, and exclude the satellite-only broadcasting services from the calculation of market share. But the National Assembly has ignored the request.

The National Assembly decided to implement the bill three months later and will discuss again whether to abolish the bill after three years. It also said that some remote regions, where satellite broadcasting is a must, are excluded from calculating the market share.