Baseball fans criticize Tving for low quality of KBO online streaming

The two photos show KBO League preseason baseball games televised on the online streaming platform Tving, Saturday. The left photo shows the SSG Landers outfielder Guillermo Heredia's name being wrongly displayed in Korean subtitles, while the right image shows the logo of Shinhan Bank, the official title sponsor of the KBO League, blurred in the top right corner. Captured from Tving

Tving, an online streaming arm of CJ ENM, has been facing criticism from baseball fans for broadcasting the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League games, one of the most popular professional sports here, with poor screen quality and broadcast delays, according to industry officials and baseball fans, Sunday.

On March 4, Tving said it signed a broadcasting rights contract with the KBO. Through the contract, It said it would begin online streaming of KBO games through its platform Tving to internet-connected PCs or mobile devices from 2024 to 2026.

The total amount of the contract is worth 135 billion won ($102.5 million), which is significantly larger than the previous 110 billion won contract for five years that the consortium of mobile carriers and internet portal sites including Naver, Kakao, KT, LG Uplus and SK Broadband signed.

To compete with streaming rivals such as Netflix, Wavve and Coupang Play, Tving appears to have paid more than double the annual average amount previously needed to acquire the broadcasting rights for KBO games, which attract millions of fans on an annual basis.

However, upon hearing the news of Tving's contract, baseball fans who had been enjoying game broadcasts for free began expressing concerns as Tving said it will charge a monthly fee of at least 5,500 won ($4.2) from May after offering the service for free until April.

As fans feared, Tving's broadcasts of the league's preseason games, which were started on Saturday, prompted outrage among baseball fans due to a significantly lower quality of service compared to the previously offered free broadcasts.

Ricardo Sanchez of the Hanwha Eagles stands on the mound before pitching the ball during the preseason game of the Korea Baseball Organization League between the Eagles and the Samsung Lions at the Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon, Saturday. Courtesy of the Hanwha Eagles

On Saturday, Tving live broadcast 5 KBO League games nationwide. All games were serviced without blackout, but there were still issues.

For instance, in a game between the SSG Landers and the Lotte Giants, the Korean name of the Landers outfielder, Guillermo Heredia, was incorrectly displayed, and there were also complaints about the broadcast having too much delay compared to cable TV broadcasts.

Additionally, Tving's YouTube channel blurred out the logos of the broadcasting company that aired the game and the name of Shinhan Bank, the title sponsor of the KBO League, in its highlight videos, to the displeasure of the baseball league's key sponsor. Shinhan Bank has been the longest-running title sponsor for the baseball league from 2018 through 2025.

"If such issues occurred on a platform that broadcasts for free, it could somewhat be understandable. However, it's hard for baseball fans to accept these problems arising on a platform that will start charging from May," a baseball fan wrote on an online community.

Regarding the controversy, a Tving spokesperson said that the service provider is working on providing a better service.

"We are actively welcoming various opinions from fans and will continue to make improvements even after the season begins," the official said, adding that the company will reveal more details at a press briefing about the KBO League broadcast scheduled for March 12.

Since its establishment in 2020, Tving has not been able to turn a profit, recording an operating loss of 119.2 billion won in 2022 and a net loss of 117.7 billion won up to the third quarter of 2023. To turn itself around, the company made a bold investment in the KBO League, which has a solid fan base, hoping to lock in subscribers to its platform, but it appears more preparation is needed to attract more baseball fan subscribers.