KT is drawing attention for its future media strategy as it prepares for incoming CEO Park Yoon-young (박윤영) to take office. After setbacks from an unauthorised micro-payment incident last year, the possibility of adjusting its business portfolio has emerged. Another concern is that preparations for new leadership at headquarters are slowing affiliate businesses.

Industry sources said on Jan. 29 that Park, KT's CEO nominee, is expected to take office officially after approval at the regular shareholders' meeting in late March. KT is known to be weighing options for an organisational reshuffle ahead of Park’s start. KT has not announced executive appointments since reshuffling rank-and-file staff in December.

Attention is focused in particular on a potential shift in the direction of the media business. The terms of CEOs at multiple media affiliates, including KT Skylife, KT Millie's Library, KT Genie Music and KT Nasmedia, expire in the March shareholder meeting season. As listed companies, KT does not directly hold sway over the selection of their next CEOs. Like KT, they appoint new CEOs through shareholders' meetings. Forecasts say unlisted media affiliates such as KT ENA and KT HCN will likely fall within the scope of group-level personnel changes.

Most of KT's media affiliates have not finalised 100 percent of their business plans for this year. That is because they do not know the direction of KT’s new leadership. An official at a KT media affiliate said, "Business 추진 prepared for the new year is effectively in a stop 상태," adding, "It is hard to strongly drive things at least in the first quarter."

KT's top priority is rebuilding customer trust after last year's unauthorised micro-payment incident. Its goal this year is to strengthen profitability in its core telecoms business and through AI. It is not easy for the media affiliates to take an independent path completely separated from group-level strategy. As a result, the prevailing industry view is that adjustments to the media business are also inevitable.

Expectations are rising that it will enter a reorganisation phase through selection and focus. KT has built almost the entire media ecosystem within the group through affiliates, from pay TV to content production, platform operations, and advertising and commerce. Some point out that this structure instead creates inefficiencies. A media expert said, "KT can be seen not only as a telecoms company but also as a comprehensive media company," but added, "There were issues where affiliates competed with each other or their roles overlapped."

The pay TV segment, a cash cow, in particular needs a breakthrough. KT, which provides IPTV service Genie TV, recorded a 24.9 percent share of the pay TV market in the first half of last year, holding onto the top spot. But it urgently needs to find new growth engines as competition with global OTT services intensifies. KT Skylife, which provides satellite broadcasting, has seen its market share steadily decline since the first half of 2021.

An industry official said, "IPTV serves as a cash cow as a bundled product with telecoms, but slow growth is a factor that blocks investment over the long term," adding, "A mid- to long-term group-level strategy is needed."

The same applies to content and platforms. The view is that decision-making is slow and investment direction is bound to be dispersed because content production and distribution and platform operations are split across multiple affiliates. An industry official said, "Putting all media elements inside the group ecosystem is an advantage, but in reality each affiliate prioritises its own position, leaving the group-level strategy lacking in clarity."

Analysts say Park’s leadership could bring stronger demands for alignment with group strategy. The official said, "When the new CEO comes in, the entire group will not bet everything on monetisation centred on telecoms and AI?" and added, "Media affiliates also seem likely to have their roles redefined within this framework."