KBS, the nation's largest public broadcaster, said Thursday that it will take legal action against SBS if their talks on joint broadcasting of the upcoming World Cup finals break down.
KBS said it will file a civil suit if the commercial network refuses to share rights to broadcast the World Cup and the Olympics in violation of an agreement between the two sides reached in 2006.
KBS officials say that heads of the two TV networks and a third broadcaster, MBC, agreed in late May of 2006 to push for joint broadcast rights to the World Cup and Olympic games.
SBS was later found to have already secured exclusive contracts earlier that month to broadcast the World Cup and Olympics in Korea, according to KBS officials.
They insisted that SBS paid the International Olympic Committee $72.5 million for exclusive broadcasting rights to the summer and winter Olympic Games in the 2010-16 period and bought the rights for the 2010 and 2014 World Cup tournaments from the International Football Federation (FIFA) for $140 million.
Under the contract, SBS was the exclusive broadcaster in Korea for the recently-ended Vancouver Winter Olympics.
Ahead of this year's World Cup, KBS and MBC have asked the media watchdog Korea Communications Commission (KCC) to arbitrate in the dispute. In response, the KCC ordered the broadcasters to begin negotiations on sharing the rights.
KBS and MBC argue that popular sporting events should be broadcast equally, criticizing SBS for violating viewers' rights.
``We will sit at the negotiations table with SBS until the end of this week and will do our best to seek joint broadcasting,'' said an official from KBS. ``But if the talks collapse, we will take all possible measures, including civil and criminal legal action.''
SBS officials, however, said there is no justification for KBS to take legal action as the exclusive rights were purchased though fair deals.