JTBC rated top in cable TV survey

A local think tank announced Monday that JTBC, the broadcasting affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, ranked No. 1 in a survey evaluating Korea’s four cable TV networks owned by national newspapers.

In the annual study by the Korea Communications Commission and conducted by the Korea Information Society Development Institute, JTBC came out on top for its high-quality programs and because it had the largest satisfaction rate among viewers last year.

Roughly 14,400 people aged between 13 and 69 across the country were surveyed for six weeks during each quarter of 2014 for the study.

Following JTBC was Donga Ilbo’s Channel A in second place, Maeil Business Newspaper’s MBN in third and Chosun Ilbo’s TV Chosun in fourth.

In the assessment of conventional free-to-air TV channels, KBS came first, followed by SBS and MBC.

In a separate survey asking viewers to grade the four cable channels on seven main categories, JTBC ranked top in each one, becoming the first broadcaster in the history of the survey to accomplish such a feat.

The seven categories are credibility, fairness, public interest, helpfulness, content variety, creativity and entertainment.

JTBC airs on channel No. 15.

BY BONG JI-WOOK, LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]