S. Korea offers bigger slice of pie to foreign investors with media overhaul

By Shin Hae-in
SEOUL, Feb. 16 (Yonhap) -- Foreign investors, whose entrance into South Korea's
media market has been restricted, will be given larger investment opportunities
via a government-led media overhaul plan, Seoul's vice culture minister said
Monday.
South Korea's Lee Myung-bak government is seeking law revisions allowing the
establishment of media magnates, with one parent firm being able to own a print
newspaper and terrestrial and cable news channels.
In a news conference with foreign correspondents, Vice Culture Minister Shin
Jae-min defended the government plan that is opposed by critics as a way to rein
in the country's media. The plan would reorganize the market into only a handful
of financially resourceful companies to undermine diversity and critics of the
government, critics say.
Shin said plan is a "deregulation of outmoded, cumbersome regulation in step with
the global trend of media convergence."
"Foreign investors, who have been banned from entering Korea's media market to
date, will be allowed to invest in the industry," Shin said, according to a press
release later distributed by the culture ministry. Domestic media outlets were
strictly banned from the press meeting.
Under the plan, newspaper companies and foreign investors will be able to own up
to a 49 percent of stake in terrestrial and cable channels.
They will also be able to hold up to a 30 percent stake in full-service cable
channels and a 49 percent stake in news-only channels, which are currently
off-limits to them.
"By tearing down barriers separating newspapers, broadcasters and
telecommunications, the new laws will allow large business groups and newspaper
companies to own both a newspaper and a broadcasting company," Shin said. "All
these are expected to spur free market competition and upgrade the media industry
environment in Korea."
Media reform has been a source of heated dispute here as broadcasters and
progressive activists oppose the plan they call "pro-conglomerate." Only three
right-leaning vernacular newspapers -- which are already in control of nearly 70
percent of print media circulation -- are said to have enough resources to enter
the television industry.
The current law, established in the 1980s, prohibits cross-ownership of print
media and television stations to prevent monopolization in the media industry.
President Lee, a former CEO and strong believer in market principles, has been
seeking to amend the laws since his inauguration in February last year to spur
competition between media outlets and bolster the sectors he believes are falling
behind global trends.
hayney@yna.co.kr
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