The Broadcast Media Communications Commission put building a 'basic media society' at the forefront of its first budget plan since its launch.

The commission said on Sept. 2 its 2027 budget proposal and fund management plan total 297.7 billion won, up 34.6 billion won, or 13.2 percent, from this year. It is the first annual budget plan it has compiled since launching in October last year.

The commission presented a basic media society as the core direction for next year's budget plan. It aims to build a society in which everyone can access media easily and safely and enjoy benefits evenly, at a time when broad aspects of daily life are conducted through media.

In a work briefing for the second half of the year in July, the commission defined a basic media society as one that substantively guarantees the rights to participate, access and choose. It presented media education by life stage as a way to raise users' ability to use media, and expanded access rights for people with disabilities and the creation of a safe usage environment as policy tools to widen media accessibility and usage rights.

A commission official explained, "To build a basic media society, not only support for using content but also education that strengthens media utilization capabilities and support for related industries must be carried out together."

The commission said a basic media society is a policy agenda that spans user access, capacity building and industry support, making it difficult to calculate a separate total budget for related spending. It said next year's budget places greater weight on expanding 'access rights' and 'participation rights' among the elements of a basic media society.

It nearly doubled the budget for media literacy education to raise media utilization capabilities for the entire population to about 2.4 billion won from this year. To improve regional media accessibility, it also allocated 2.5 billion won each to build viewer media centers in North Gyeongsang and North Jeolla.

It will also expand support to improve media access rights for people with disabilities. It will continue support for producing disability broadcasting and distributing TVs for people with disabilities, and push development and demonstration of automatic audio description broadcasting technology that uses AI to describe on-screen situations in speech.

It will also expand support for producing public interest programmes by regional and smaller broadcasters and EBS. The aim is to raise regional broadcasters' content production capabilities and provide more opportunities for regional viewers to enjoy media.

An OTT voucher programme, which has been mentioned as a way to directly support media 'choice rights', was not included in the government's budget plan.

The voucher was reviewed as a way to support media content fees, including OTT services, prioritising underprivileged groups. Disputes include eligibility and methods, and preventing resale of passes. It was reported that measures such as supporting one account per household were discussed to broaden the range of beneficiaries.

A commission official said, "In the long term, the OTT voucher can be included in a media voucher for building a basic media society," adding, "We can review a direction in which the eligible groups start with underprivileged groups and are gradually expanded."

The commission said it will explain the need for related projects to the National Assembly, fiscal authorities and other relevant institutions in the future and work to have the budget reflected.

Commission Chair Kim Jong-cheol (김종철) also said at a press briefing marking six months in office in June that a media voucher is "one of several measures to realise a basic media society" and that "beyond simple media access, choice rights that allow people to freely use diverse content and platforms must also be guaranteed."

The government's 2027 budget plan will be finalised after review and approval by the National Assembly.