South Korea’s KT Corp. and its pay TV affiliate KT Skylife Co. took up 31.07 percent of the country’s total pay TV market in the July-December period of last year, changing little after the liberalization in market competition.

According to data released by the Ministry of Science and ICT on Thursday the subscribers to paid TV service of system operators, satellite broadcasters, and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) operators totaled 32,490,544 at the end of December, up 530,000 subscribers from six months ago.

By service provider, KT commanded the largest number of 6,861,288 subscribers, or 21.12 percent of the entire pay TV market, SK Broadband Co. 4,652,797 (14.32 percent), CJ Hello Co. 4,097,730 (12.61 percent), LG Uplus Corp. 3,877,365 (11.93 percent), and KT Skylife 3,234,312 (9.95 percent).

The combined share of KT and its affiliate KT Skylife was 31.07 percent during the cited period, up 0.22 percentage points from the first half of last year, after 240,000 subscribers were added to reach 10.1 million in the second half.

The ministry’s data is the first of its kind after removal of the cap on paid TV service provider and their affiliates’ market share to one third of the entire paid TV market on June 27 after three years of enforcement to prevent dominance.

The number of subscribers to paid TV service in the July-December period, meanwhile, jumped 530,000 from the January-June period, but overall growth fell 10 percent from a 590,000 increase in the first half. The number of subscribers that were added by more than 800,000 on a six-month basis since the second half of 2015 switched to a declining trend after the first half of last year.

By Shin Chan-ok and Lee Eun-joo

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]