KBS Requests Advertising Budget Increase

The Korea Broadcasting Service (KBS), amid plans to increase its TV subscription fee, reportedly sent an official request to the Korea Broadcast Advertising Corp. (KOBACO) of an increase in its advertising fees in September.

The official request, obtained by Lee Jae-woong, a lawmaker from Grand National Party (GNP), said, “KBS urged KOBACO to consider increasing advertising fees, which have been unchanged for a while, to improve service quality.”

The request, made in the name of the KBS president, explains the reasons for the increase, “Sluggish domestic demand and the emergence of multiple channels have weakened the TV ad market. And costs of producing ads have risen sharply. Against this backdrop, KBS has continuously made efforts to enhance program quality. But falling ad revenues have adversely affected our budget condition.”

Other broadcasters have also made similar requests.

However, KBS requested a 60 percent increase in subscription bills to make up for serving the public interest by reducing ads as well.

KOBACO decided to increase the cost of terrestrial TV ads by 7.9 percent and radio by 5 percent from November. But the Korea Advertisers Association (KAA) is opposing the move. “The claim that ad costs remained unchanged is wrong,” a KAA spokesperson said.

Ad costs slotted in between three famous talk shows have increased steadily from 2002 (23.7 percent on KBS, 28.5 percent on MBC and 31.6 percent on SBS). Several types of ads have already risen.

Rep. Lee said, “Raising subscription and ad charges would wrongly burden taxpayers and advertisers.”

kimhs@donga.com