Government Takes Action to Block 'NunuTV'... Establishes 30 Billion Won Fund to Support Domestic OTT Platforms

The Ministry of Science and ICT met with representatives from the online video service (OTT) industry and promised to strengthen the blocking of access to the illegal streaming site 'NunuTV'. Additionally, it announced plans to establish a 30 billion KRW ‘Global Digital Media Fund’ by next year to help secure OTT competitiveness and support entry into the global market.

On the 6th, Park Yoon-kyu, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated at the 5th consecutive on-site meeting for digital national tasks held at Grand Central in Jung-gu, Seoul, "We will strengthen monitoring of the illegal streaming site 'NunuTV', which infringes on content copyrights, and will further enhance cooperation with the relevant ministries in the future."

NunuTV is a site that illegally posts videos from OTT platforms regardless of domestic or international boundaries and generates revenue. Domestic OTT companies such as TVING and Wavve are responding through the 'Video Copyright Protection Council', but complete eradication is difficult because the servers are located overseas.

Vice Minister Park said, "We have decided to shorten the blocking cycle from the previous once or twice a week to once daily starting today in cooperation with OTTs and telecom companies," adding, "We will track NunuTV every time it changes its URL daily to ensure that content created with much blood, sweat, and capital is properly valued and distributed."

At the meeting, there was consensus that 'entry into overseas markets' is crucial for survival. Professor Lee Sang-won of Kyung Hee University’s Department of Media said, "In terms of economies of scale, Korea ranks 7th globally, but compared to the U.S. market, it is very small," noting, "The subscription-based VOD market in the U.S. (such as Netflix) was 13.4 times larger than Korea’s in 2022."

He emphasized, "Realizing economies of scale in content is important. Strategies such as entering overseas markets to co-produce with local operators or creating combined products with Hallyu content are necessary."

As one strategy for overseas market entry, the possibility of providing domestic OTT content through FAST (Free Ad-supported Streaming TV) services broadcast on Samsung Electronics smart TVs exported to the Americas was also suggested.

The need to expand investment to survive competition with big tech companies like Netflix was also mentioned. Industry representatives unanimously expressed, "Due to recent increases in production costs, securing funds is difficult, and expanding investment is urgent."

In response, the Ministry of Science and ICT explained that it plans to promote the ‘Global Digital Media Fund’ targeting 30 billion KRW by next year to support OTTs and promising content. It also added that it is establishing a cooperative system to activate private investment, including Industrial Bank of Korea’s investment in digital media convergence content startups.

Vice Minister Park said, "We will discuss institutional improvements with related ministries to expand tax credits for OTT and other content production costs, and will actively support artificial intelligence (AI) and digital transformation, which will be key elements of future competitiveness, in the media sector as well."