Tving CEO apologizes for poor quality streaming of baseball game, vows improvements

Tving CEO Choi Ju-hui speaks during a press conference at CJ ENM Center in Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Baek Byung-yeul

Tving, an online streaming media service, promised to offer a better level of streaming quality after being heavily criticized by baseball fans for its subpar online broadcasting of a Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League game, its CEO said, Tuesday.

"Last weekend marked the first time Tving broadcast KBO’s preseason games, and the interest toward our service was much hotter than expected. We are well aware of the concerns and criticisms expressed by the fans,” Choi Ju-hui, CEO of the company, said during a press conference in Seoul.

“We are fully aware that there were shortcomings in the operation of our preseason game broadcast service. This has made us feel more responsible. We have taken measures to address the issues that can be immediately resolved and are actively seeking direction for improvement,” Choi added.

The streaming arm of commerce and entertainment company CJ ENM recently secured broadcasting rights for the online streaming of KBO games, the governing body for the professional baseball league here, for three years from 2024, with a deal worth 135 billion won ($103.2 million).

Since the contract was announced, baseball fans, who had enjoyed the KBO League games, one of the most popular professional sports here, through online streaming platforms for free, expressed their frustration as Tving added that it will require a minimum payment of 5,500 won a month to watch as of May after approximately one month of free streaming.

Last weekend Tving began broadcasting KBO preseason games amidst such concerns, but the company ended up disappointing baseball fans by causing numerous problems in its broadcasts due to delays and subtitling errors. Baseball fans criticized the service as being worse than the free broadcasts previously provided by mobile carriers and internet portal site operators.

"We know baseball fans have a lot of concerns. We assure them that we will be back with the proper service in time for the start of the regular season," the CEO said.

Tving promoted its differentiated services, introducing what it calls new features such as a time machine function, which allows users to go backwards and forwards in the video, text broadcasting and an audio mode.

However, questions arose during the press conference because these features are not something new. In particular, Tving's addition of the audio mode will be provided from April 8.

“The features might seem similar to the ones on other platforms, but using them on Tving will feel different experientially. The audio mode is planned to be available from April 8 and we are developing additional features like multi-view to provide high quality,” Chun Taek-soo, chief product officer of Tving, said.

The CEO emphasized the provision of better broadcasting services, saying, "Providing services for our customers has always been the priority. We will find and improve our service points with a customer-first policy to meet user satisfaction.”