JTBC and terrestrial Olympic broadcasting rights conflict.."passive reporting"vs "verbal theft" [Star Issue]

*This content was translated by AI.

Conflicts continue over the rights of JTBC and three terrestrial broadcasters to broadcast the Olympics.

The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, which opened on the 7th, was exclusively purchased by JTBC and is broadcasting live. Unlike the previous Olympics, it is pointed out that access to the channel has decreased due to the lack of simultaneous broadcasting by the three terrestrial broadcasters.

Among them, JTBC's "Newsroom" on the 12th said, "It is difficult to find the Olympic fever on the news and website of terrestrial (KBS, MBC, SBS) broadcasters. As the terrestrial monopoly system broke down, it also rejected a proposal for JTBC news rights that can cover on par with broadcasters, and significantly reduced the dispatch of reporters. In fact, it is a terrestrial broadcaster that chose passive reporting," he reported.

The terrestrial broadcaster sent only one coverage team to the region, pointing out that it was negligent in delivering the efforts of the national team players. He said, "We also refused to purchase news tickets that were offered to guarantee universal viewing rights as much as possible. It was a good condition to include AD cards at half the amount sold to JTBC during the 2022 Beijing Olympics," he claimed.

However, terrestrial broadcasters are in a different position. An MBC official said, "Usually, broadcasting rights have the form of a right package in which broadcasting rights and news rights, on-site reporting rights and new media rights are all linked. Accordingly, the official video of the Olympics, which can be used by broadcasters without broadcasting rights, is all about four minutes a day provided by JTBC, the broadcasting authority, according to the universal viewing rights regulations.

The video provided by JTBC only uses three of the news programs, with a limit of two minutes per program, and even these are prohibited after 48 hours after the end of the game. An MBC official said, "There is not enough video to report only the news of the game with the Daily News," adding, "It is difficult to report both planning and breaking news."

Three terrestrial broadcasters, including MBC, also sent a report team to the scene, but they cannot make additional news due to the limitations of the video they receive. JTBC criticized that the three terrestrial broadcasters were negligent in reporting, saying, "It is absurd to blame the results for the reasons they provided."

In addition, JTBC offered good conditions, including AD cards, which allow terrestrial broadcasters to cover the site equally with broadcasters, for half of the amount sold to JTBC during the 2022 Beijing Olympics, but claimed that terrestrial broadcasters refused to purchase it, saying, "It is practically impossible to cover and report on the same level as broadcasters."

"The amount proposed by JTBC is more than half the amount at the time, which is not true. In addition, the three companies that co-owned the 22nd Olympics broadcast rights received news rights from JTBC and divided them into one-third, while JTBC is the exclusive broadcasting authority of the Winter Olympics, which can earn profits by selling news rights to all broadcasters, including the three companies. JTBC does not sell news tickets at half the price, but rather can benefit several times from the past terrestrial broadcasting, he stressed.

As such, the arguments of both sides over the right to broadcast and the right to news are sharply divided. Amid growing voices that it is a priority to create an environment where viewers' accessibility and players' efforts can be fully illuminated, attention is being paid to whether the conflict will change the structure of contracts for broadcasting rights at international competitions and how broadcasters cooperate in the future.

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*This content was translated by AI.