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| A poster for Netflix's drama "The Glory" part 2" / Courtesy of Netflix |
By Baek Byung-yeul
Netflix, Wavve, Tving, Coupang Play and other over-the-top (OTT) video streaming platforms are suffering due to the illegal streaming site, Noonoo TV, as their respective paid content can be easily viewed for free with just a few clicks, presenting a big obstacle to the country's growing media industry, according to industry officials Monday.
Claiming that they have lost around 4.9 trillion won ($3.7 billion) due to the illegal streaming site, streaming service providers, broadcasters and other organizations in the media industry formed an alliance and filed a criminal complaint against Noonoo TV on March 9.
Upon receiving the complaint, the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency launched an investigation into the pirate streaming site.
An official in the OTT industry said that they are closely communicating with broadcasters, telecommunications companies and the government to root out this illegal website. The worry is that the issue could grow to the point where it shakes the very foundations of the country's media industry, if the situation is left unresolved.
"The illegal site is known to be serviced in the Dominican Republic. Even if telecom companies block the address of this service, their servers do not disappear, which means they can continue to provide this illegal service by simply changing their address," a spokesman of one of the local OTT providers said on condition of anonymity. "The operators of this illegal service have to be arrested through a police investigation, so we are currently watching the progress of the investigation."
Noonoo TV is known to have begun its streaming service in 2021. The site streams movies, dramas and animations for free, and makes a profit by advertising illegal gambling sites. This site has about 1.5 billion views with around 10 million monthly users.
The number of users increased, peaking on March 10 when the second part of Netflix's popular drama "The Glory" came out. Online messages were posted directing people to watch it for free on Noonoo TV, and some posts even mentioned the illegal streaming site's website address, so that it can be found easily online.
Citing the case of Bamtoki, an illegal website that provided online cartoons for free, and which was ordered in 2021 to pay compensation to comics creators for using their works without permission, the industry official said Noonoo TV's operator should be arrested and punished according to the law.
"We don't expect such illegal services to be completely uprooted even though the police launched an investigation. However, they should be punished by the law to stop other illegal service providers. As we saw in the case of Bamtoki, there are still illegal websites providing comics but the number of illegal cases has decreased," the official said.
Some pointed out that users should have a civic consciousness that steers them away from using these illegal streaming sites.
Seo Kyoung-duk, a professor at Sungshin Women's University, said, "It is impossible for us to illegally watch Korean content through these sites. If we don't protect our culture ourselves, who will? It is important for a culture powerhouse to create good content but at the same time, we should never forget that citizens must follow in using the content properly."
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