Korean Broadcasting Commission Recommends Conditional Re-licensing of SBS

The Korean Broadcasting Commission (Chief Commissioner: Noh Sung-dai) decided on December 6 to recommend the conditional re-licensing of SBS, whose license expires the end of this year.

The KBC attached five conditions to the re-licensing of SBS on that day. According to the conditions, the broadcaster should contribute 15 percent of its pre-tax profits after deducting its annual donations to nonprofit foundations, pay an unpaid 30 billion won over 3 years that is part of the money it promised to contribute to return some of its profits to society, and also pay an overdue 6.9 billion won out of 30 billion won that Taeyoung, a large stockholder of SBS, promised to contribute when SBS first got its license.

The KBC’s decision brought an end to the issue of the re-licensing of SBS that has been talked about for more than two months. The commission initially gave SBS more than a passing mark in the re-licensing evaluation. But the commission later suspended its recommendation for re-licensing when Uri lawmakers criticized the broadcasting company for not separating ownership and management structure and breaking the promise of contributing its profits to society, stirring up suspicions that the commission is trying to strengthen its control over SBS.

The head of the judges for re-licensing evaluation, Sung Yoo-bo, explained that the commission requested SBS to pay 30 billion won as it initially promised in the National Assembly, even though the broadcaster’s breaking of the promise does not prohibit the re-licensing.

Meanwhile, the KBC is scheduled to decide upon re-licensing of Gangwon Television Broadcasting on Dec 10, which the Commission suspended because the broadcasting company’s largest stockholder had some stocks under a borrowed name. Regarding Kyung-in Broadcasting Limited, which has insufficient plans for the improvement of financial structure, the commission will hold a hearing on December 10 and release the results as soon as December 15.

Jin-Yeong Lee ecolee@donga.com