Korea ‘House of Cards’
SK Broadband announced on March 8 that a new corporation is to be set up in April after a merger between SK Broadband and CJ HelloVision and the corporation is going to make a large-scale investment in the domestic content industry by raising a fund of 320 billion won for a year to come. It added that 150 billion won is scheduled to be invested by the corporation and the rest is to be raised by attracting investors before 220 billion won is invested in content production and 100 billion won goes to startups in the industry.
“Customized content will be pre-produced and opened in a lump on our paid VOD platform so that our customers can have a new viewing experience,” said SK Broadband CEO Lee In-chan, continuing, “Then, the content industry will become more and more dynamic by means of success stories like the House of Cards.” In addition, the company is planning to increase its investment in a variety of genres, ranging from animation and TV drama to documentary, so the domestic content market can be diversified and less dependent on movies.
60% of the 100 billion won portion is to be invested in individual creators and new media content production based on high technology. The other 40 billion won is to be spent for overseas business opportunities of Korean content producers and their collaboration with foreign platforms.
The corporation is planning to hold fund information sessions with content producers and startup investors before selecting fund managers. The operation of the funds is scheduled to start in July this year. Still, the plan can be delayed if the merger is put off.
Competitors in the industry are opposed to the merger, claiming that it is illegal. On March 8, KT said that the extraordinary shareholders’ meeting in which the participants voted for the merger was invalid because of the violation of the Broadcasting Act, the violation of the Telecommunications Business Act, an improper calculation of the ratio of merger, etc.