T-DMB Service Expands Across Sth Korea

The South Korean government has issued national lisences for T-DMB services, which were previously restricted to Seoul and its surrounding province, reports CNet Asia. Two broadcasters will launch the service nationally — KBS in May and MBC in August — with the intent to cover 75 percent of the nation, or almost all residential areas. The T-DMB service currently has 1.8 million users, and the Korean government expects to have 21 million mobile TV viewers by 2012 (including the competing S-DMB service). The T-DMB service is bringing in about 10 percent of what it needs to break even, and CNet opines that the advertising model “requires some heavyweight media players to step in and legalize commercial ads in the middle of programs, a practice that is illegal now”. However, Telecoms Korea notes behind a subscription wall that the service will switch partially to a fee-based service.

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