Bo-eun leads the digital content team. She has covered foreign affairs, North Korea, tech, economy and gender issues at The Korea Times. She did a short stint at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she obtained a new perspective on news production and life. Small sources of joy for her are lounging in the sun, having a good latte and swimming.
KT, LG in talks with Disney
Attention is growing over which local telecommunications firm Disney will partner with to offer its content. / Korea Times file
By Kim Bo-eun
By Kim Bo-eun
The planned entry of Disney's over-the-top (OTT) media services into the local market next year is drawing attention to which telecom firm the U.S. entertainment giant will partner with in order to offer its content here.
Disney's video streaming service Disney Plus is set to launch in Korea in the latter half of 2021, and the company is known to have been in negotiations with local telecom companies for some time.
Expectations in the industry are Disney Plus could possibly partner with more than one telecom firm, given the case of Netflix, which has joined hands with both LG Uplus and KT to offer content via their internet protocol TV (IPTV) services.
KT and LG Uplus are known to have been negotiating with Disney for some time. KT is seen to have an advantage as the No. 1 player in the IPTV and OTT market, as it is able to offer Disney Plus its vast membership base and network. Disney Plus will enable KT to solidify its dominant market presence.
LG Uplus is the third player in the market but LG Group's technology affiliates have an existing partnership with Disney. LG Electronics has partnered with Netflix and Disney Plus to offer their content on its LG channel, a digital platform launched in the U.S. market. LG Display is also working with Disney's affiliate company on OLED technology.
But views are that offering Disney content via connected TVs will have less market impact than offering content via IPTV. A case in point is when Netflix exclusively partnered with LG Uplus to provide its content via the latter's IPTV. Netflix saw a surge in its membership base. This was also the case for LG Uplus.
"Since the beginning of this year, our stance has been that we will leave possibilities open for partnerships with diverse content providers and OTTs," a KT official said.
An LG Uplus official said "We can create synergy based on our experience offering content with Netflix."
It is unclear whether the country's top telecom carrier SK Telecom is negotiating with Disney. Given SK Telecom did not partner with Netflix, and its focus on local OTTs, there were expectations that it would forgo ties with Disney.
SK Telecom partnered with local terrestrial broadcasting stations to launch the OTT service Wavve. Wavve's membership base surpassed 10 million as of September, a year since its launch. It has around 2 million paid subscribers.
“It is our stance that we will review various forms of partnerships to expand the media ecosystem. No decision has been made on partnering with Disney,” an SK official said.
Joining hands with Disney is an attractive deal for local telecom firms given its content. Disney Plus offers content of all of its affiliates including Disney, Pixar, National Geographic, Marvel and Star Wars.
The OTT market here is set to heat up with the arrival of Disney Plus. Local competitors are scrambling to boost their content-producing capabilities to compete with foreign giants Netflix and Disney.
New local players are also seeking to challenge the market. Coupang launched video streaming service Coupang Play last week, where members can view content free of cost. Local OTT Tving, which separated from CJ ENM, partnered with broadcaster JTBC to set up an OTT joint venture.