Television in South Korea

In South Korea, there are a number of national television networks, the three largest of which are KBS, MBC, and SBS. Most of the major television studios are located on Yeouido--an island in middle of the Han River--in Seoul. Television introduced in South Korea in 1961 with KBS-TV. Important genres of television shows include serial dramas (soap operas), historical dramas, variety shows, game shows, news programs, and documentaries. All three networks have produced increasingly lavish historical dramas in recent years. Some South Korean television programs are available on satellite and multicultural channels in North America. Korean dramas have become popular in other East Asian and Southeast Asian countries, with whole sets of videotapes or DVDs of series available, complete with Chinese subtitles.

Shopping channels have become quite popular in recent years as well, and the models sometimes put on entertaining acts during product pitches.

There are many cable operators in South Korea, such as Tbroad, C&M, and CJ. The cable TV subscriber is approximately 14 million. The cable operator provides TPS to its subscribers.

National networks

In South Korea, there are four nationwide television networks, three general networks and one educational network as follows:

General networks

Name	Type	Launch	Owner	Logo
Korean Broadcasting System (KBS)	Public broadcasting	31 December 1961	Government of South Korea
Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC)	Commercial network	8 August 1969	The Foundation of Broadcast Culture & The Jeongsu Scholarship Foundation	File:Munhwa Broadcasting Company.svg
Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS)	Commercial network	20 March 1991	SBS Holdings (The TaeYoung E&C -led Consortium)

Educational networks

Name	Type	Launch	Owner	Logo
Educational Broadcasting System (EBS)	Public broadcasting	27 December 1990	Government of South Korea

List of television channels

All of them are free-to-air channels. Furthermore, all of them are the official digital television and DMB providers of the nation (since 2005, approved by the Korean Government).

Government owned channels

Name	Owner	Launch	Genre	Slogan	Description
KBS 1TV	KBS	October 29, 1961	General entertainment featuring news and sport, etc.	Korean's Manifested Channel	The Channel's callsign is HLKA-TV.
KBS 2TV	KBS	March 1964	General entertainment featuring variety shows and sport, etc.	Youth Channel	The Channel's callsign is HLSA-TV.
MBC TV	MBC	August 8, 1969	General entertainment featuring news and variety shows, etc.	MBC... Munhwa Bangsong	Its name is literally "Culture Broadcasting Corporation".
EBS TV	EBS	December 27, 1990	General Infotainment featuring documentaries, 2nd language education programmes, etc.	A truly good channel	Formerly KBS 3TV, independent in 1990.

Corporate channels

In South Korea, lots of corporate television network has been created after the deregulation taken in 1990. Apart from OBS Kyeongin TV, All of them are affiliated with SBS.

SBS is responsible in distributing its programming content nationally, but is not responsible for producing local content aired by their affiliates.

Name	Owner	Launch	Covers	Genre	Slogan	Description
SBS TV	SBS Holdings (The TaeYoung E&C -led Consortium)	March 20, 1991	Seoul and its suburbs	General entertainment featuring variety shows and drama, etc.	Humanism Through Digital (2000–2010) See you Tomorrow (2010–present)
OBS Kyeongin TV	Yeong-an Hat Co.	December 28, 2007	Seoul and its suburbs	General entertainment with local contents, independent of SBS	Your light of Hope and Share
KNN	KNN Corp.(The Nexen Tire-led Consortium)	May 14, 1995	Busan and Gyeongnam	General entertainment with some local contents
TBC	TBC Corp.(The Nano Chem.-led Consortium)	May 14, 1995	Daegu and Gyeongbuk	General entertainment with some local contents
KBC	KBC Corp.	May 14, 1995	Gwangju and Jeonnam	General entertainment with some local contents
TJB	TJB Corp.(The Woosung Feed Co.-led Consortium)	May 14, 1995	Daejeon and Chungnam	General entertainment with some local contents
ubc	UBC Corp.(The KOFCO-led Consortium)	September 1, 1997	Ulsan, eastern part of Gyeongnam	General entertainment with some local contents
JTV	JTV Corp. (The Iljin holdings. -led Consortium)	September 17, 1997	Jeonbuk	General entertainment with some local contents
CJB	CJB Corp. (The Doujin Construction -led Consortium)	October 18, 1997	Chungbuk	General entertainment with some local contents
GTB	GTB Corp.	December 15, 2001	Gangwon	General entertainment with some local contents
JIBS	JIBS Corp.(The Hanju Holdings. -led Consortium)	May 31, 2002	Jeju	General entertainment with some local contents

See also

• List of Korea-related topics
• List of Korean television series