[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] The free benefit of the ‘basic monthly subscription’ that SK Telecom subscribers used on the online video service (OTT) Wavve will be discontinued and unified into a single ‘monthly subscription’ service like Netflix.
SK Telecom and Wavve announced on the 17th that due to the termination of their partnership, the free benefit of the Wavve basic monthly subscription, which was provided in about 100 SK Telecom plans costing 42,000 KRW or more, will end on August 20. Until now, subscribers using SK Telecom plans costing 42,000 KRW or more could use the Wavve basic monthly subscription service worth about 3,000 KRW for free.
The Wavve basic monthly subscription service offers free access to live broadcasts available to everyone, along with free VODs of terrestrial broadcasts that aired more than six weeks ago. Although this basic monthly subscription service is not an official product available for subscription on the Wavve website, it was created as a temporary B2B product to provide the same level of benefits that SK Telecom had offered to existing ‘Oksusu’ users.
A Wavve representative explained, “The basic monthly subscription product was originally planned to operate until the end of last year, but due to a large number of users, the service period was extended. Some users have moved to paid services, and maintaining the free benefit has become financially burdensome, so we decided to end it.” Wavve plans to promote monthly subscription services prominently, like other OTTs such as Netflix and Watcha Play, following the end of the basic monthly subscription benefit. An SK Telecom representative said, “We will provide 10,000 coins that can be used to purchase paid content to Wavve basic monthly subscription customers. Unlike Oksusu, on Wavve all free subscribers can watch live broadcasts, so this does not reduce customer benefits.”
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