LG HelloVision Song Gu-young 2nd Term System... Task of Discovering New Growth Engines

Approved at March General Meeting... Reappointment Likely
Outlook for Cable TV Industry Remains Gloomy

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Song Gu-young, the CEO who has led HelloVision under the LG Group umbrella for two years, has effectively secured his reappointment, entering the second phase of management. While he has successfully defended profitability?a rare feat in the cable TV industry?and led industry-wide co-growth, discovering new growth engines remains a significant challenge.

According to related industry sources on the 10th, LG HelloVision is scheduled to hold a board meeting and shareholders' meeting this March to approve CEO Song Gu-young's reappointment. Unless there are unexpected developments, industry observers believe the likelihood of Song’s reappointment is high. Since there were no changes during the LG Group personnel reshuffle last November, Song’s position is virtually confirmed.

The solid performance is attributed to CEO Song. According to financial information firm FnGuide, LG HelloVision’s operating profit consensus estimate for last year was 42.1 billion KRW on a consolidated basis, up about 23% from the previous year. Revenue also increased by 0.8% year-on-year to 1.0664 trillion KRW. This was driven by the success of premium cable TV services (Idleulnara, Netflix, Disney+, YouTube all-in-one service), the MVNO “Hello Mobile,” and rental businesses.

CEO Song’s leadership in promoting co-growth within the cable TV industry also positively influences his reappointment. A representative example is the introduction of a regional channel live commerce business model through regulatory sandbox demonstration exceptions last year. This new business model promotes regional coexistence and increases local residents’ interest by selling specialty products in real-time on local broadcasts, similar to TV home shopping. An industry insider said, "He showed affection for the industry by taking a leading role in dialogues with the government," adding, "At the end of last year, he also explored ways to create a unified platform by gathering individual comprehensive wired broadcasting operators (SOs)."

However, the crisis facing cable TV, once called the “golden goose,” remains a challenge to overcome. The subscriber share of comprehensive wired broadcasting among all paid broadcasting services?including comprehensive wired broadcasting, IPTV, and satellite broadcasting?fell from 45% at the end of 2016 to 34% at the end of September last year. Over the past five years, nearly 1.6 million subscribers have migrated to IPTV. LG HelloVision’s “Hello TV” subscribers also decreased from 4.18 million at the end of 2019, shortly after joining LG Group, to 3.78 million as of last September.

CEO Song is expected to focus on qualitative growth this year. In addition to MVNO and rental businesses, regional-based content and commerce businesses are attracting attention. In his New Year’s address, he stated, "We will accelerate both external growth and qualitative growth," highlighting key initiatives such as expanding the broadcasting and telecommunications subscriber base, strengthening regional channel competitiveness, and fostering future growth businesses.