[DigitalToday reporter Jin-ho Lee (이진호)] As LG Uplus begins the process of ending its U+Mobiletv service, the era of homegrown OTT services by South Korea’s three mobile carriers has effectively come to an end. A “selection and concentration” approach is becoming more evident, with strategies reshuffling around IPTV rather than OTT services pushed back by global players.

According to the industry on April 9, LG Uplus is expected to end the U+Mobiletv service at the end of next month and launch a new mobile app, U+tv Mobile, with stronger links to IPTV. The company has already filed changes to its terms of use with the government.

The decision means all three carriers will step away from standalone OTT businesses. SK Telecom previously operated Oksusu and KT ran Seezn, but both have since wound them down. SKT teamed up with the three terrestrial broadcasters in 2019 to integrate Oksusu into Wavve, while KT merged Seezn with TVING in 2022 to close its own OTT business. LG Uplus kept its own OTT service relatively longer, but the industry sees its eventual exit as driven by accumulating user declines and content investment burdens.

After winding down OTT businesses, the three carriers are reshaping their media strategies around IPTV using their own infrastructure. The key is to strengthen mobile-linked services by leveraging IPTV subscriber bases already in place.

SKT has strengthened linkage functions between IPTV and mobile through Mobile Btv, and KT through Genie TV Mobile. LG Uplus is also expected to reinforce its IPTV-mobile linkage strategy through the new U+tv Mobile app. The industry sees U+tv Mobile as a companion app linked to IPTV, rather than a new content platform. Likely uses include continuing IPTV content on mobile or using the app as a remote control.

The carriers’ exit from OTT and the strengthening of IPTV-mobile linkage are being assessed as realistic choices made amid competition with global platforms. With global players leveraging exclusive content and capital strength, analysts see it as a natural flow for carriers to choose linkage with IPTV, where subscriber bases are already built, instead of running their own OTT services.

Yong-hee Kim (김용희), a professor of business administration at Sunmoon University, said it appears to be a selection-and-concentration strategy that creates synergy by combining IPTV, which already has many secured subscribers, with mobile. He said the key is to create a user experience comparable to OTT services.

Beyond mobile linkage, strengthening content competitiveness is also cited as a task. That is because simple platform integration has limits in boosting user loyalty. Earlier, SK Broadband, KT and LG Uplus agreed to jointly set up a 40 billion won IPTV strategic fund to invest in video content.

In particular, as global OTT platforms draw users with exclusive series or major events backed by large-scale investment, analysis suggests IPTV also needs to secure “killer content.” Kim said that in the long term they should also consider ways to strengthen live content such as sports broadcasts, beyond mobile linkage.