Cable Operators Change Channels Too Often, Viewers Confused

“Where can I get the KBS1 channel?” Park, a 31-year-old man living in Banpo-dong, Seocho-gu, fumed after finding out that the cable service provider in the area assigned the channels reserved for major broadcasters such as MBC, KBS and SBS to home shopping businesses.

“They are only after money. See that they replaced the terrestrial broadcasters’ channels with home shopping,” Park complained.

For those living in Mapo-gu, MBC sports channel has moved from ch. 30 to ch. 40. `BS2` set for NHK satellite programs is now out of service. “It gets me irritated that channels keep changing in months,” said Kang, a 24-year-old university student. “And the cable operator has stopped updating the program schedule over its Internet site.”

Putting `Money` before `Customers`

With the launch of satellite broadcasting service early this year, cable operators began to change channels even more often.

Station operators (SO) continue realigning channels in line with the rising number of program providers (PP). The number of PPs, which was 44 at the end of 2000, has more than quadrupled to some 190. Of the total, SOs are currently allocating channels for 60 to 100.

When they allocate channels, they hardly care about viewer convenience. In particular, ch. 6, 7, 9 and 11, which have traditionally been reserved for major broadcasters, and the channels in between like 5, 8, 10 and 13 are now mostly arranged for home shopping businesses.

It is said that home shopping firms pay a certain portion of their sales revenues to SOs as marketing fees.

Seocho Cable Operator, in which Hyundai Department Store has a largest stake, is giving a special treat to `Hyundai Home Shopping` arranging two spots, ch. 7 and 56, for the home shopping business.

An official at `Donga TV,` which recently got delisting from Gangdong Cable Operator, pointed out, “SOs are selecting channels that help them fatten their bank accounts, rather than trying to satisfy viewers’ needs.”

- No Rules for Station Operators

The current law allows SOs to assign channels at their will. The problem is that they do too much `channel shuffling,` or temporary setting, too often with little regard to viewer convenience. Viewers are forced to see what they do not want to see as operators continue to change channels.

SOs also tends to ignore service provisions. Most provisions require operators to maintain existing channels for at least six months after reallocation, but most operators do not comply with the rules.

“There are 108 station operators nationwide, and many of them are small businesses, making it harder for us to supervise them closely,” said a source from the Broadcasting Committee.

Cable Service Models Abroad

According to the Korea Cable Broadcasting Association, the number of paid cable TV subscribers was around 5,950,000 in June and is expected to reach 7,500,000 by the year’s end.

Media experts point to the need to classify cable TV channels into more than 10 categories as most advanced countries do. In the U.S., for instance, there are a wide variety of categories such as movies, entertainment, home shopping and news for viewers to choose.

“A recent study by the American Cable Broadcasting Association found that of the 150 or so channels, viewers converged on some 13 to 16 popular ones,” said Gang Nam-joon, professor of journalism and media at Hanyang University.

“Most operators across that country assign certain channels to major broadcasters such as CNN and ESPN, and when they make some changes they send a guidebook to serve viewer convenience,” he added.

In-Jik Cho cij1999@donga.com