'WATCHA WAVE' is exposed on Samsung Galaxy phones… Netflix is ​​obliged to'stable'

Content providers of a certain size or more, such as Netflix, which are gradually increasing their influence in Korea, are imposed a new'service stability maintenance obligation' in accordance with the recently passed revision law. 

The government deliberated and decided on the'Digital Media Ecosystem Development Direction' led by the Ministry of Science and ICT at the 12th Information and Communication Strategy Committee held at the Seoul Metropolitan Government in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 22nd. 

First, the Ministry of Science and ICT supports the advancement of media platforms overseas by using a method of recommending native OTT to domestic smartphones that are exported overseas through consultation with operators.

For example, Samsung Galaxy recommends the latest content, applications, services, etc. through the platform called'Daily' on the last page of the smartphone home screen, which includes native OTT such as Wave or Watcher. 

If the user clicks on the recommendation, it goes to the app store and downloads the app. 

"We will support overseas advancement through cooperation between content and platform and terminal manufacturers so that our company can grow beyond the domestic market and grow globally," said Lee Tae-hee, head of the Network Policy Division at the Ministry of Science and Technology. "Samsung Electronics' smartphones such as Galaxy and LG Electronics' smartphones "It exposes (curates) native OTT to open the way for overseas users to promote native OTT." 

To this end, the Ministry of Science and Technology is currently working with Samsung Electronics. 

Lee said, “In overseas countries, such as Southeast Asia, where there is a high demand for K content, we expect this type of publicity to be effective.” 

For media platforms that wish to enter overseas, the government supports legal advice and localization of content, and also supports strategic overseas expansion, such as the establishment and operation of the'OTT Content Global Win-Win Council' in which content and platform companies participate.

It also supports so-called'content re-production' such as subtitle input and sound effects for overseas expansion. Support will be expanded to include existing broadcast programs, movies, animation, and video, and to support content production companies and OTT companies. 

On the other hand, large media operators operating in Korea are given a'service stability obligation' to protect domestic users. 

This is in accordance with the amendments to the'Telecommunications Business Act' and'Act on Promotion of Information and Communication Network Utilization and Information Protection' passed at the last plenary session of the last 20th National Assembly. 

This amendment to the law is called the Google Law and the Netflix Law. Global content providers such as Google (Youtube), Facebook, and Netflix are increasingly influential in the domestic market, but the quality of the service is not regulated and there is no obligation to protect our people, so this is to strengthen this duty. 

"Netflix and Google have taken the responsibility to manage the communication network in Europe or the United States, and are making adjustments to image quality, but in Korea, they have maximized profits by using the developed ICT infrastructure, but rather have completely ignored the network stability obligations related to this," said Korea. It has a world-class telecommunications network infrastructure, and the fruits of it are followed by foreign companies, and domestic operators are faced with reverse discrimination, so it is urgent to eliminate the regulatory gap. 

In addition, the'offshore provisions' that apply to all providers of actual services in Korea were applied to ensure that even overseas operators comply with their obligations without compromising the legal network.