Rising Status... "Portals and OTT Must Also Pay Broadcasting Promotion Fund"

Policy Forum for the Era of Digital Transformation Held

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Su-yeon] Discussions have emerged on the need to collect the Broadcasting and Communications Development Fund from platform operators such as portals and online video services (OTT).

On the 22nd, National Assembly members Park Wan-joo, Jeong Pil-mo, Go Min-jung, and Jang Kyung-tae, members of the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee, held the second continuous policy forum titled "How Should Fair Contributions for a Sustainable Internet Environment Be Made in the Era of Digital Transformation?" at the National Assembly Members' Office Building.

Participants of the 'Continuous Policy Forum for the Era of Digital Transformation' held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building on the 22nd are taking a commemorative photo.
[Photo by Oh Su-yeon]

Choi Jin-eung, a legislative researcher at the National Assembly, presented on the topic "Institutional Improvements to Enhance Public Contributions of Businesses in the Digital Environment." Choi cited cases from France and Germany, where OTTs are included as subjects for fund collection, stating, "In European cases, the participation of various media operators in forming funds for video content production is institutionalized. However, when introducing this domestically, different institutional environments must be considered."

He proposed two solutions: legislation and voluntary corporate participation. "One option is to amend the 'Broadcasting and Communications Development Basic Act' to include broadcasting and communications operators above a certain scale as subjects for fund imposition," he said. "However, issues such as the legitimacy of regulatory grounds, fairness, and overlapping regulations must be considered. It is necessary to explore policies that encourage voluntary corporate participation rather than legislation to fulfill corporate social responsibility."

The Broadcasting and Communications Development Fund is composed of payments from the three major telecommunications companies for frequency allocation fees, as well as payments from paid broadcasting operators such as Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), terrestrial broadcasters, comprehensive programming channels, and news channels. Recently, opinions have been raised to add portals and OTTs to the collection targets considering their social influence.

The subsequent discussion included Yoo Yeon-jo, officer of the Information and Communications Industry Policy Division at the Ministry of Science and ICT; Kwak Dong-yeop, head of the Finance Team at the Korea Communications Commission; Yoon Sang-pil, head of External Cooperation at the Korea Telecommunications Operators Association (KTOA); Roh Dong-hwan, policy cooperation leader at Wavve; and Lim Seok-bong, policy cooperation officer at JTBC.

The government expressed its position to improve the fund system considering the changed status of platform operators. Team leader Kwak said, "Imposing monetary burdens other than taxes on new operators requires broad opinion gathering and consensus on the necessity of imposition." He added, "The KCC plans to prepare improvement plans for the fund system, including whether to incorporate new subjects for imposition, and will conduct close consultations with business groups and related ministries in addition to collecting opinions through forums."

Domestic platform operators expressed concerns about reverse discrimination against domestic operators and emphasized the need for a cautious approach due to issues related to free trade agreements (FTA) and other trade matters. Leader Roh suggested, "Policy discussions to secure the competitiveness of domestic media companies should precede, and as a minimum necessary funding method, imposing and establishing funds should be considered."

While acknowledging the need for fund payments considering the influence of content providers (CPs), opinions were also raised that network usage fees should be paid to Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Director Yoon agreed on the fund sharing by CPs with financial capacity. However, he stated, "Separate from government fund payments, fees for using domestic networks are business costs for CPs and should be paid to ISPs that provide internet network connectivity. Payment of network usage fees by global CPs is a way to correct the uneven playing field."