Kim Hyun-bin began his journalism career at Arirang TV from 2012 to 2017, specializing in defense, foreign affairs and the economy. In 2018, he joined The Korea Times, covering society and business, and is currently responsible for embassy affairs.
KT, SK Telecom want Disney Plus
Poster for Aladdin, left, and Toy Story 4. Local telecom companies are eager to ink deals with Disney Plus. Courtesy of Walt Disney Company Korea
By Kim Hyun-bin
By Kim Hyun-bin
The launch of the Disney's Over The Top (OTT) services has garnered massive popularity in less than a year. After just three months from its release Disney Plus has accumulated over 28.6 million subscribers closing in on market leader Netflix, which accounts for 160 million subscribers worldwide.
Their success has grabbed the attention of SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus, which have been sending “love calls” with hopes to ink future partnerships in Korea.
“Of course all telecom companies are interested. Just Disney alone holds abundant content. At this point, even without independent production, they will become a huge success in the OTT market here in Korea,” a telecom official said.
Last November, Disney+ launched services in the U.S. and Canada and has been expanding to English speaking countries including Australia and New Zealand. The initial goal was to reach 60 million subscribers in the first five years after launch, but industry watchers says Disney will be able to fast-track and fulfill its goal around June.
Starting next year, Disney+ will be available in India as well as several western European countries including England, France and Germany rapidly expanding its presence throughout the world.
Disney Plus is expected to launch services in Korea as early as in the latter half of this year, and industry watchers say it will be open to cooperating with local telecom companies.
Industry watchers believe Disney will not pursue a single partnership with one telecom company.
“We have been cooperating and communicating with them, and our OTT platform “Seezn” is an open platform, which allows us to make partnerships with any content company. We have the most subscribers in the IPTV sector and from the stance of Disney they have no reasons to leave out KT and make deals with the other two rival telecom companies,” a KT official said.
KT currently has the most IPTV subscribers accounting for 8 million people, a factor Disney would not ignore.
Disney has joined hands with U.S. telecom companies including Verizon, which offers free one year subscriptions for customers registering for unlimited data plans, which helped Disney garner subscribers.
“At this point there are no specific standards on how Disney will cooperate and how the negotiations will take place,” a telecom official said. “But after looking at Verizon's case, Disney will want to join hands with local telecom companies.”
Currently, all three telecom companies are eager to collaborate.
“We have met with the Disney and brought back a surprise. Unfortunately we are not able to reveal (what it is) at this stage,” SKT CEO Park Jung-ho said to reporters in November. SKT currently has the most mobile subscribers in the country.
LGU+ has found great success after partnering with Netflix and their experience through the partnership could become a strong point during possible negotiations.
The firms says it is open to new partnerships including one with Disney.
“We are open for more partnerships in the OTT sector to enhance our content and competitiveness in the home media market,” an LG official said.
The monthly subscription rate for Netflix is $8.99 but Disney+ is $2 cheaper at $6.99.
Also Disney+ offers a bundle package which includes ESPN Plus and Hulu.
On the first day of its launch in 2019, Disney+ garnered over 10 million subscribers and became the most searched word on Google.