Programme providers (PP) criticised cable TV operators (SO) for pressing ahead with unilateral standards for calculating content fees and demanded a full withdrawal. The SO industry is pushing back, saying the move is unavoidable for survival as management conditions worsen.

On Monday, the Korea Broadcasting Channel Promotion Association, the Korea Broadcasting Channel Use Business Association and the PP Council issued a joint statement urging a full withdrawal of the "content usage fee calculation standards" that they said deny the value of broadcast content and could lead to a lack of funding for producing K-broadcast content.

PPs said the SO industry unilaterally finalised the standards in April last year without substantive talks with stakeholders. They voiced concern after major operators such as LG HelloVision and D'Live declared they would apply the standards, and as most SO operators began procedures to gather opinions at the end of December last year.

In the statement, PPs said content production costs have risen an average of 6.9 percent a year over the past 5 years, while advertising revenue has fallen 3.8 percent. They said applying the new standards would cut content usage fees by about 77.5 billion won over 3 years.

An official at the promotion association said SO operators are shifting responsibility for worsening management conditions onto content companies and trying to make up losses through the easiest method of "cost cutting". Applying the standards only to PPs, which have relatively weak negotiating power, is unfair reverse discrimination, the official said.

The SO industry said major revenue sources such as subscription fees and home shopping carriage fees are declining, while the ratio of programme fees paid has exceeded 90 percent of subscription fee revenue.

Cable TV operators said the proposal is a compromise aimed at breaking away from past customary dealings and objectively reflecting market realities. They said they held multiple rounds of opinion gathering, briefings and seminars, and that PPs' claim there was no consultation is untrue.

An SO industry official said the structure allows usage fees to rise for channels with strong performance even if the overall amount under the standards falls. The official said it could instead give smaller PPs, which have not been properly treated due to weak bargaining power, a chance to receive fair evaluation. The official added that coexistence efforts are needed to build a virtuous-cycle ecosystem, since PPs can invest more steadily only if platforms are maintained.