Direction of Policies to Boost IPTV
The commercial service of IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) made its debut at last on Nov. 17, 2008. The first significant episode since the inauguration of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) heralds the ushering in of an era of broadcasting-communications convergence. So far, the introduction of new services has experienced twists and turns: it took three years to re-transmit terrestrial broadcast station programs following the launch of satellite broadcasting and two years to get on the right track after the debut of satellite digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) in 2005, hitting the wall in market stabilization. The IPTV service has also suffered a setback -- commercialization following five years of wrangling over regulation and conflicts of interests, unlike in advanced countries.
At this juncture, when the global media sector faces big changes due to the digital revolution, broadcasting-communications convergence is the current of the times as well as a national agenda item that cannot be neglected or put on hold. Given the situation that Korea may fall into a nutcracker, overwhelmed by advanced countries with qualitative and technological competitiveness and chased by developing states with a competitive edge in terms of price, the broadcasting-communication convergence -- the IPTV service -- is emerging as an alternative to end the stalemate.
The broadcasting-communications convergence mechanism is forecast to have a virtuous cycle of values ranging from service and network to content and equipment, thus creating new growth engines and turning around the sagging national economy. It is expected to expand clients' rights to select high-quality and diverse broadcasting-communications convergence services, including a variety of combined content, Video-on-Demand, interactive, personalized application services and their welfare.
Analyses of IPTV services by domestic specialized research institutions show that the settlement of the IPTV industry is projected to grow to 9.8 trillion won in production induction effects and the employment of 39,000 people over five years.
In a bid to maximize the effects that the introduction of the IPTV service will bring about, the government will have to work out its diverse policies in addition to related businesses' efforts. Accordingly, the KCC plans to implement such comprehensive and systematic tasks as a complement to service infrastructure, including the relaxation of regulations, upgrade of network and invigoration of content.
First of all, diverse ways to complete service infrastructure are under consideration. The government seeks to revise related laws, considers a plan to introduce wireless IPTV in a mid- and long-term perspective, minimizes user's burden by approving an optimum pricing system, ensures proper profitability for program providers and lowers prices by bundling products. A fair competition system befitting the convergence environment will be established to induce fair competition in the pay broadcasting industry.
The establishment of IPTV technology standards, standardization and development of equipment and apparatus, R&D of core technology and the building of test-beds will be pushed to ensure the upgrade of the network. In case original technologies such as Codec, Middleware and Electronic Program Guide (EPG) cannot be secured, such issues as royalties and convergence among different kinds of services are feared to arise as the market is getting wider and services are offered in full force.
The content industry will emerge as a representative new growth engine in the broadcasting-communication convergence era, an essence of the value chain of such convergence services as IPTV, and a significant factor to determine the quality of people's lives. Policies to invigorate the content industry need to be pushed actively. We plan to continue to relax restrictions to boost the content industry while trying to establish a fair-trade regime by correcting unfair practices. Public and private education will be connected to provide diverse educational content through IPTV services. Policies to offer public services and individuals' civic affairs will be established and implemented in order to boost public convenience and public interests through the introduction of IPTV. Policies to develop the content industry in across-the-board areas ranging from production to distribution and consumption will be drafted in order to create a virtuous cycle of convergence service development in accordance with Article 18 of the Act on IPTV.
Lastly, the government needs to provide support to help domestic companies narrow the technological disparity with their foreign IPTV counterparts and explore foreign markets. A consultation committee will be formed among industry, academia and research circles in the form of a comprehensive implementation system to make IPTV a magnet for accelerating economic recovery.
If these policies to invigorate the IPTV industry bear fruit, convergence of broadcasting and communication promises to be a new growth engine that will regenerate people's capabilities. Korea, with belated industrialization yet front-running informatization capability, is sure to take the lead in an era of the new Internet economy by narrowing the disparity with advanced countries if all Korean people make concerted efforts.
The broadcasting media industry that has evolved into radio, black-and-white television, color television, analog television, digital television, cable television, satellite television and DMB, is now ushering in the IPTV era. New opportunities will be given by following the new paradigm rather than sticking to the conventional mold. Someday, we expect platforms to expand to diverse formats and the sound development of the content industry to provide audiences with greater choices, rights and benefits. nw

By Park Noh-ik, Director in charge of convergence policy at the Korea Communications Commission