KBS needs deep soul searching to survive

The government has decided to separate the television license fees for KBS from utility bills. The Korea Communications Commission on Wednesday approved a revision to the enforcement decree of the Broadcasting Act. The revised decree will be executed from mid-July, but the date of implementation will be later because the public broadcaster needs to consult with the Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco) over the new method of collecting the viewership charge.

KBS claims that the change will impair its role as public broadcaster — such as emergency broadcasting — citing an apparent decrease in its revenue from the mandatory charge. After the novel system of combining the television fees and electricity charges to help strengthen its role as public broadcaster since 1994, KBS’s revenue from the viewership charge reached 690 billion won ($530.6 million) last year. But today, viewers’ choice has been widened to various paid-for platforms, including internet TVs and OTT media services, not to mention drastically increased television channels. Many people complain about the mandatory payment of KBS fees even when they don’t watch the channel. In foreign countries, fee collectors often visit homes to collect money or viewers pay it online.

KBS must wonder what really caused this situation. The corporation was infamous for lax management and biased broadcasts. Nearly half its employees receive more than 100 million won in yearly salary, including a third of the entire workers, who get such hefty pay even without being assigned to a particular job. And yet, the public broadcaster pushed for a drastic hike in its viewership fees without making any restructuring effort.

Unceasing was the public criticism about its broadcasting slanted to a certain political group. After the Supreme Court ruled that the dismissal of the former KBS president during the liberal Moon Jae-in administration violated the law, the conservative moderator of a news show ended the program with a comment apparently critical of the liberal government. “Former President Moon and others involved in kicking him out are keeping mum,” he said. After KBS disallowed viewers from watching the clip again on its homepage, controversy followed.

If KBS cannot recover public trust by normalizing its management and news broadcast, its viewership revenue will decline further. The government and the People Power Party (PPP) also must not try to tame the terrestrial broadcaster in its favor. The PPP’s proposal to abolish KBS2, another channel of KBS, is too rash. The government also must consider how to fund the Education Broadcasting System (EBS) which relies on KBS fees to operate. Given President Yoon’s promise to reflect EBS programs in the College Scholastic Ability Test by 50 percent, the government must devise ways to fund the public education channel.