OTT Prices Rise, 'Doduk Sicheong' Viewership Increases Again

Subscription Fee Increase and '4-Person Party' Ban Cause 'Dissatisfaction'
"Hard to Detect Servers... Continuous Blocking Ongoing"

As domestic and international OTT (online video services) such as Netflix, Disney Plus, and TVING raise subscription fees and ban '4-person sharing,' illegal streaming sites are making a comeback.

According to the industry on the 19th, a bypass link to an illegal OTT site called 'ICU' was posted on the Telegram chatroom 'NunuTV2' on the 13th.

Illegal site 'ICU' homepage. [Photo by 'ICU' capture]

The NunuTV2 Telegram chatroom was created after 'NunuTV' was shut down in April this year. The account has about 900 subscribers. The chatroom operator claims to be Studio Universal, the former operator of NunuTV, and has announced plans for NunuTV seasons 2 and 3.

ICU is an illegal streaming site estimated to have been created in September this year, with an overall interface and operation method similar to NunuTV. The main screen offers the latest content recently released by Netflix, Disney Plus, and TVING, and users can also watch movies, sports, documentaries, and entertainment shows.

Unlike other illegal sites, ICU provides links connected to adult sites, and since no separate membership registration or login information is required for viewing, caution is advised for minors. The presence of various gambling advertisements and adult product sales alongside is also problematic.

After the termination of the NunuTV service, illegal OTT sites have continued to be created. Various variant streaming sites are still operating through URL bypasses. Recently, even the illegal comic and novel sharing site 'MaruMaru' has been created, indicating that illegal sites are spreading from OTT to webtoons and web novels.

The government is frequently blocking sites and conducting continuous monitoring to prevent the proliferation of illegal sites, but since most illegal sites have servers overseas, complete eradication is difficult. Due to the difficulty of crackdowns and the inability to seize the servers themselves, the current measures are limited to monitoring and site blocking.