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F1 for $13 a month: Coupang Play hikes prices for live sports fans

Published: 16 Jun. 2025, 14:10 Updated: 16 Jun. 2025, 16:45

An image of Coupang Play's Sports Pass shared on Coupang's website [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Watching sports is getting costlier for Korean fans.

Starting Sunday, Coupang Play is charging users 17,790 won ($13) per month to watch live sports, requiring them to pay an extra 9,900 won on top of the existing 7,890-won Coupang Wow membership for access to content that was previously included at no additional cost, bundled under a new plan called Sports Pass.

The plan allows unlimited access to all live sports content on Coupang Play, including the Premier League and Formula 1 (F1). Only existing Wow members are eligible to purchase the pass.

Coupang Play has leveraged exclusive sports content as a competitive advantage in Korea’s saturated streaming service market, where it competes with global and domestic players such as Netflix, Tving and Wavve.

Coupang Play streams major European football leagues such as the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and Ligue 1, in addition to K League 1 and Korean national team friendlies.

The service also offers sports content without a large Korean fan base, such as the NFL, F1 and LIV Golf. The company plans to add NBA games in the second half of this year.

Coupang included its sports broadcasts as a standard benefit for Wow members, without additional charges, before the adoption of its Sports Pass.

But Wow members must now subscribe to the Sports Pass in order to view most live sports content, with the change effectively doubling the monthly cost for sport fans.

“Some sports content will still be available without the pass, but viewers will need it for exclusive or premium content,” Coupang said.

The company said through its website that Korean national team friendlies, K League 1 and Coupang Play Series — preseason exhibition friendlies involving European teams — will remain available to Wow members without the additional subscription.

Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min, center right, and Bayern Munich defender Kim Min-jae, center left, in action during a Coupang Play Series match at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in western Seoul on Aug. 3, 2024 [JOONGANG ILBO]

The update has triggered backlash from some users, as sports fans on online communities have voiced frustration about the financial burden of subscribing to multiple streaming services to watch different sports.

With streaming services dividing sports rights among themselves, Korean viewers increasingly face overlapping subscription fees.

Baseball fans must subscribe to Tving, which offers KBO games for a minimum of 5,500 won per month, and to SPOTV Now, which provides MLB coverage, for at least 9,900 won.

Football fans now require Coupang Play’s Sports Pass for international football league matches and SPOTV Now for Champions League and UEFA Europa League fixtures.

“The rise in sports broadcasting costs is already a global phenomenon, and competition among Korean streaming services is also intensifying.” said Prof. Lee Sung-min of the Media and Film Studies Department at Korea National Open University. “Prices are going up because international fan bases for each league like the NBA, MLB and Premier League are growing, which has increased the value of the intellectual property itself.

“Now that prices have risen, it’s important to create a positive cycle where providers compete on the quality of their sports coverage.”

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY JEONG YONG-HWAN [[email protected]]