Cabinet approves revision to remove KBS license fees from electricity bills

Flowers congratulating the splitting of the TV transmission fees from the monthly electricity bill placed in front of KBS headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

The Cabinet on Tuesday approved splitting the TV transmission fee from household electricity bills.

Under the revised enforcement ordinance, the 2,500-won ($1.9) TV licensing fees will no longer be part of the electricity bills.

The approval came after the Korea Communication Commission amended the enforcement ordinance on the Broadcasting Act last week.
It is the biggest change since the billing system was adopted nearly three decades ago.

The public broadcaster KBS, before the Cabinet meeting, said Monday it will go into an emergency management mode.

KBS has been the biggest benefactor of the billing system as it takes 91 percent of the 2,500 won TV transmission fee while 3 percent goes to the Educational Broadcasting System.

The state utility Korea Electric Power Corporation takes 6 percent as a commission on billing households.

The transmission fees through the electricity bill accounted for 45 percent of KBS's revenue last year at 693.5 billion won.

While most people weren't aware that they were billed through their electricity bill, many wonder if they were paying double for the same broadcasting services as many watch the same show through pay-TV services, including Internet Protocol Television.

As of the third quarter of 2022, pay-TV subscribers amounted to 36 million, equivalent to 70 percent of the Korean population.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]