Big TV's Big Shakeup

Wow, it finally happened. After years of rumors, Orion has finally sold its On Media cable TV channels. And not only did they sell On Media, but they sold it to arch-rival CJ. I really am amazed.

For years, On Media was the dominant cable TV channel group in Korea (the industry jargon is "Program Providers"). After cable TV was launched in Korea in 1995, it was much more a whimper than a force for several years. But gradually On Media grew, starting with Tooniverse, and adding music, movie and other channels (including HBO briefly, and of course the mandatory baduk channel). Soon after the turn of the century, the American program Friends made a huge splash in Korea (which On Media did not have), followed by Sex & the City (which it did) and CSI (On Media, too), and soon cable TV was a big deal. Soon, On Media was by far the biggest Program Provider in Korea (at one point accounting for nearly 50 percent of all cable TV watching).

Then CJ decided to add cable TV to its growing list of entertainment and media companies. After a few missteps, it was running neck and neck with On Media, which has been the situation for the past several years.

But strangely, despite On Media's success, there have always been strong rumors that parent company Orion wanted to sell it. Rumor has it that the Orion bigwigs did not like being involved in the entertainment industry, considering it too unstable and too different from the company's core businesses. For a couple of years, there were supposedly serious talks going on between Orion and KT. At one point, a contact of mine even told me it was a done deal. But obviously that never happened.

Then Orion sold off its movie exhibition company, Megabox, so there was something to the rumors. And then the company closed its newly opened production company, Motion 101. And about a year ago, people started to mention CJ as a serious suitor for On Media.

What will it mean for the Korean entertainment industry? Fierce competition between CJ and On Media has helped to boost prices paid for top programs to ridiculous levels. I assume that is going to cool off now (at least until someone else comes along... there is always another challenger to the throne). I assume, too, that CJ is going to start closing some of the overlapping channels, or at least changing some formats.

But my biggest worry is that this deal with further retard the development of original programming on cable TV. Much as cable in the United States has become the source of much of the best storytelling these days (Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men, etc.), I think Korea needs cable TV to step up and become a player. When On Media produced Bong Man-dae's erotic series DONGSANG IMONG, I had hope that they were going to become something like HBO. Sadly, rather than take the best elements of that series and develop them, cable TV instead chose to focus on the sex, and have instead made endless unwatchable ero-dramas. Sigh.

I do not see the CJ-On Media deal making things any better... But who knows? Maybe this will embolden CJ to start producing something with substance.

More AFKN Fun

Last year, in a post about the history of AFN Korea, I talked about some websites that delve into the history of the American Forces Radio & Television Service. One of those sites I mentioned was Thomas Weston's history of AFRTS.

Well, Mr. Weston has gone on to start a new blog all about the history of AFRTS, which includes a couple of posts about Korea so far. And there was this post of the AFKN newsroom from 1968.

I also ran across this website for the Southwest Museum of Engineering,
Communications and Computation, which features many interesting old AFRTS stories, including many from Korea. My favorite was this first-hand report on AFRS back when it was mobile, driving all over Korea. Great old pics of AFKN here.

2008 Anti-Wrap-up (A Wrap-Down?)

Hrm... End of the year. I guess I am supposed to offer some sort of wrap-up of 2008. Or top-whatever lists. Or some sort of words of wisdom.

Too bad I don't really have anything like that. At least nothing earth-shattering or brilliant or controversial.

The movies had their worst year in quite a while, with Korean films dropping to their lowest level of support since 2002 or so (still waiting on the final figures). THE CHASER was probably my favorite film of the year, although it was more of a B+ than an A. THE GOOD THE BAD THE WEIRD was fun but not great (and a little shaky in spots). Hong Sang-soo's and Kim Ki-duk's latests were duds. Most everything else felt... well, typical. Some good, some bad (some terrible)... but nothing really weird. Nothing surprising. Artistically, things are in a bit of rut.

But despite their money problems, the fact is attendance is still way up from what it was 10 years ago, new movie theaters are still being built. And, most importantly, good films are still being made. Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook have their new films coming soon. And there are a lot of really interesting, big projects in the works. Sorry I cannot talk about a couple of the more fun ones I know. But things like the cgi animation of Robot Taekwon V or Bong Joon-ho's Snow Train are just way too cool. Certainly Hollywood's interest in Korea is bigger than ever. And I would not overlook the behind-the-scenes stuff going on with China and Japan, either.

People claim that financing is so tough, but last year saw over 100 films released -- still way more than a few years ago, and probably more than is healthy. Yes, some previously popular sources of financing have dried up. But most of them probably were not so good anyhow, and the industry has a whole is stronger without it. Stupid money investing in bad movies helps almost no one (except the crew members, who could use all the help they can get).

The music industry has, for the most part, completely adjusted to the digital age. I don't see anyone seriously expecting CD sales to recover any time soon. Now the business is more about all-round celebrities, with money coming from a hundred sources aside from CD sales. Kind of sucks for the indie artists... But then, it always did for them.

The new system just highlights how hollow the business model is for real, live bands. The fact that there are more and better indie bands in Korea than any time I can remember, despite the end of CD sales, indicates to me that something very different drives music. Who knows, maybe with a little luck and hard work, the live music scene might get its act together in 2009 and try to present something to people that the pop music industry is not supplying.

(Since I am not much of a K-pop guy, I will refrain from commenting on the music itself this year, aside from saying it seems pretty much the same as always. But as I said before, my choice for most interesting CDs of the year is posted over at London Korean Links).

Korean TV continues to move toward independent productions. Lee Byung-hun has his IRIS series coming. Bae Young-joon has an interesting new project on the way (which I guess is not necessarily a TV thing... not sure what it is from that article, but I assume it will have a TV angle) (Taewangsasinggi vs. the Wondergirls?).

I guess if I were to summarize 2008, we are in a period of change... but then, aren't we always? Internationalization is growing ever more important (but again, not really an original insight). I am not saying the stories here are uninteresting... It is just that I have been talking about them all year. It may be the end of a calendar year, but it does not feel like any kind of natural break in the Korean entertainment scene. Maybe by later in 2009 we will have a better idea what the next big things are.

Discovering Hip Korea

Korea Herald (along with countless Korean language outlets and fan sites) is reporting that the Discovery Channel is going to air a couple of documentaries called HIP KOREA this spring. One will be about the singer Rain (Jung Ji-hoon) and is subtitled "Seoul Vibes," while the other is about Lee Byung-hun and is called "Seoul Savvy."

Actually, this was reported in the foreign press over two weeks ago.

As for what it all means, I will excuse myself from commenting for now. But I hope people really enjoy the shows.

We'll Be Right Back, After This Word — And Why That's a Good Thing

Some very happy news from the Korean courts Thursday -- Korea's Constitutional Court ruled that the state-run television ad agency KOBACO is unconstitutional.

Now, that might seem like an obscure thing to be happy about, but I assure you this is great news. You see, the Korea Broadcast Advertising Corporation currently is responsible for all aspects of TV advertising in Korea. It sets the rates and times for ads, collects the money and doles it out, all in one shop. And only KOBACO is allowed to do this. The result is the highly regulated, uncompetitive, and bizarre thing we call Korean television.

Of course, KOBACO justifies what it does in the name of "fairness" (as bureaucrats always do). But the result of KOBACO is anything but fair.

Advertisers get very little control over when their ads air.

TV stations do not get as much ad revenue as they could on the open market.

Neither advertiser nor broadcaster has much flexibility over the ad market.

Therefore TV stations have much less money to create programs, so their programs are that much cheaper and cheesier than they could be.

Also, there is little incentive to experiment with program styles, since the channels' revenues do not vary much, regardless of what they air.

Years ago, a former ad guy told me that KOBACO is a "zombie corporation" -- that is, it is already dead, but it keeps on moving. In fact, the government passed legislation what would have ended KOBACO's monopoly back in 2001, but that was not enough to kill it either.

Everybody knows that it is a relic from Korea's authoritarian past, but the government loved KOBACO, and was loath to give it up. It was set up under Chun Doo-hwan to keep control over Korea's television stations (way back before SBS began and long before anyone had even thought of cable TV).

The government tried to dress up KOBACO and make it pretty -- for example, it must use a certain percentage (around 6%) of revenues for public projects. The Press Center, the Korean Broadcasters Center, and the Seoul Arts Center were all built using KOBACO money (and the Arirang TV building).

With KOBACO's monopoly coming to an end in 2009, this could potentially really open up the Korean TV markets. Which should mean more money for the TV channels, more money for TV programs, and then hopefully better TV programs. And, if we are really lucky, we might get some more diversity, too.

R.I.P. AFKN

Well, it came several months late, but at least AFN Korea has been taken off of my cable dial.

I wrote in the beginning of the year about how AFN Korea was getting removed from Korean cable TV services because the cable service operators are not licensed to retransmit the channel. AFN was supposed to be all gone by May, but it continued to linger, at least on my cable system.

Some time a few months ago, my analog cable service stopped carrying AFN (not sure exactly when, as I very rarely use the analog service). And finally on Tuesday, the digital cable channels were all rearranged, and in the process, AFN Korea was removed from it, too.

I use C&M Cable, which is the biggest cable company in Korea, so this looks pretty final. No more AFN for me ... unless I buy a big ole' antenna, so I can get it free-to-air for another three or four years. But I doubt that is going to happen.

I have so many found memories of AFN Korea, from when I first moved to Seoul. Back when Korean TV was truly dire. In the 1990s, there were very few cable channels, and few of them had much in the way of foreign programming. Deathly dull.

Back then, AFN offered a whole bunch of first-rate American programs, usually within months of being broadcast in the United States. For special broadcasts, like the last episode of Seinfeld, they would show the program just a few hours later. We also got to watch plenty of sports, most of the NCAA basketball tournament, most of the NBA playoffs, and a whole lot of football. (And oodles of NASCAR, but that is not really my thing). Plus there was all those old, heavily edited movies AFN played from 1am until 5am on weekdays.

Gradually, however, American TV execs got pissed off that people like myself (ie, non-military types) were watching all that US programming for free. Even worse, they really were upset that the cable companies were making money off of programs that were supposed to be only for US servicemen. When the Korean TV industry was tiny, no one cared, but as the 1990s went on, it began to grow into a much more lucrative market. So the US television companies started to deny AFN Korea the right to retransmit their programs. The sports quickly dried up. The TV programs grew older and lamer until there was seemingly nothing but Star Trek Voyager and Judge Judy. Then the news disappeared, too. For the last few months, FAMILY GUY and the other Tuesday animated shows (and GENERAL HOSPITAL) were just about the only reason I watched AFN.

So, bye-bye AFN. Thanks for the fond memories. The Anthrax Ninja. The great advice (Don't use a beer bottle as a weapon. Don't ruin OPSEC. Don't waste your tour. Don't commit suicide.) The Eagle. (Btw, who would win in a fight between the AFN Eagle and the Anthrax Ninja?).

Everything I Learned About Life I Learned From Korean TV Dramas...

Okay, this is hardly new, but it amused me greatly when someone reminded me of it recently. It is the top 50 things I learned from watching Korean TV dramas.

50 things you can learn from a korean drama

1) Hot, rich, younger men love fat, older vulgar women.

2) If you have a best guy friend, he is in love with you. And secretly you are too.

3) You and your boyfriend will always playfully chase each other on an ice rink, at the beach, or in the leaves. And you'll laugh for no reason and your boyfriend will hit you "playfully" but the force of his push will have you flying across the room. But it's okay. Cuz you're still laughing like a crazy person.

4) Brothers/cousin/uncles-newphews will always love the same girl.

5) You're allowed to make uturns wherever you want in Korea. And there is never traffic on the side you want to u turn to.

6) There is a super quick payment device that allows you to pay a bill quickly enough for a guy to run immediately out of a restaurant after his angry girlfriend storms out.

7) Everyone has cancer.

8) If you're sick, all you need is an IV to make you feel lots better.

9) There is vomit and urine all over Seoul at nights.

10) Fighting at a pojangmacha with a random stranger is merely part of a normal night's event.

11) Soju must cost 10 cents. Everyone drinks it everyday all the time, especially the poor people.

12) If you're rich, you're a jerk.

13) If you're poor, you're an angel.

14) Women sleep and wake up with a full set of makeup on.

15) You're not studying hard enough unless you get a nosebleed.

16) If you have a nosebleed, you most definitely have cancer. And you have no money to pay for the surgery that will save your life. And your liver is missing. We're not sure where it went, but it's making your cancer progress faster.

17) If you work in a sool jeep, you have massively curly hair and wear flashy colors from the early 90's.

18) You always order orange juice or coffee at a cafe. And you never drink it. EVER.

19) You will always call your boyfriend by his job title. Or simply sunbaenim. Never his name. Never. He doesn't have one.

20) If you TRULY love each other, you must die together in the end. Frozen outside instead of finding shelter like sane people. Just frozen....

21) You go to America you come back miraculously successful. You go to England you come back amazingly fashionable. You stay in Korea the only thing that changes is your hairstyle.

22) And if you come back with no apparent reason then it's because you have cancer.

23) Everyone always goes to the same hospital no matter where they are.

24) If you stand out in the rain for more than five minutes, you'll end up with a fever and vertigo and people will rush you to the hospital to get some magic IV. And instead of taking an ambulance or driving they'll race you on their back.

25) Even if you're poor and can't eat, you never wear the same clothes twice.

26) If you play a poor kid, you always have dirt on your face and your hair is always messy.

27) If you're saving someone from being hit from a car, you'll push them out of the way and wait for the car to hit you instead.

28) Everyone has a long lost sister/brother/twin. Usually one they didn't know about.

29) If you don't want to answer your phone, you can't just turn it off. The battery
needs to be taken out.

30) All korean men can drink hard, smoke long, sing well and play piano. Usually all at the same time. And at the same restaurant that has a piano that they let anyone use.

31) If you're in a relationship, you must at one point leave and have your lover tearfully come RIGHT before you board the plane (vice versa applies as well. You can be the chaser). 60% of the time you see each other, the other 40% you're roaming around in circles and pass each other about six times, but miraculously never see them.

32) If you're getting off a plane, you're ALWAYS wearing sunglasses. ALWAYS.

33) All guys wear hideous tracksuits zipped up to their neck. Even if all they're doing is jumping rope.

34) Girls will always storm off because they're mad and the guy will stoically grab them by the arm and swing them back- and by magic, not dislocate their shoulders.

35) Guys always look like they're 6 feet tall, even if they're only 5'10. Thank you camera angles.

36) Guys like to wear foundation, eyeliner and sometimes a smudge of lipliner.

37) You always get stuck in an elevator with someone who makes you feel uncomfortable. Even if there are six different elevators, you'll always be stuck in the same one with that bastard you hate (or just fought with).

38) Unless you're fabulously rich, your in-laws will always hate you.

39) So will your sister-in-law.

40) Your brother-in-law might be pining away for you.

41) There are only 2 ways to kiss. You either press your lips against theirs with your mouth completely shut, and just press away for a very long and uncomfortable time. OR you devour the other person and suck out their soul. In both instances, the world spins.

42) A guy will always get the right size ring, even if you're never held hands.

43) People stare off into space and ponder a lot. They'll just stop in the middle of the road and watch a leaf on a tree for a good three minutes, and just ponder.

44) You'll get pregnant the first time you have sex.

45) You'll get pregnant if he kisses you on the forehead.

46) Hell- you'll get pregnant if you hold hands.

47) If you overcome great obstacles to be together, one of you must die. Probably due to cancer.

48) One Korean man can kick the butts of 6 gangstas. Especially when they all stand in a circle and attack the guy one by one. Then when each of them get their butts OWNED, they wise up and attack the guy at the same time. Then the guy will get pulverized and bleed out onto the dusty concrete floor of the empty warehouse they've found to fight in. There will be a fire in a trashcan somewhere. And the girl will have watched this the entire time, screaming in horror. Instead of calling 119, she'll just watch and cry. But it's okay. Cuz the next day the guy will be fine with a few random bandages and a few face scars. But never a black eye.

49) It ain't a real fight unless the gangstas fight dirty with a stick or switchblade.

50) If you study in the states (perferably Harvard), you are one of the top students and can speak perfect English (as assumed by the reactions of those around you). Why the rest of the world OUTSIDE of the TV can't understand a single word uttered out of your melodramatic mouth is beyond me.

TV Studio Burns

The Chosun Ilbo has pictures of a fire that engulfed a historical drama set at a KBS-TV lot in Suwon on Thursday (June 12).

(HT: Korea Beat).

The Godfather, America's Top 40 and AFN Korea

I just wrote about some of the fun things I got to do this week, with f/x companies and Robot Taekwon V. But I also had another really fun surprise -- a couple of days ago I was emailed by the producer Fred Roos (who produced THE GODFATHER, BARFLY, LOST IN TRANSLATION and much more) about an article I wrote for The Hollywood Reporter about AFN Korea being taken off the air in Korea (at least on cable).

If you read this site at all regularly, you will know that I am quite interested in Korea's media and entertainment history, especially the 1950s and 1960s. Last January, I had an article in The Hollywood Reporter about how AFN Korea is supposed to be removed from Korea's cable systems soon (actually, it was suppose to be gone already, but my cable service still is rebroadcasting it).

Anyhow, thanks to Mr. Roos, I had AFKN on my mind recently, and while doing a little research, I just stumbled across some fascinating AFKN history. It is a website called SOUNDS OF THE FAR EAST NETWORK, and it is all about US Armed Forces radio and TV in Japan. But it also has a small section (and very interesting article) about the American Forces Broadcasting in Korea.

(Not Armed Forces Network, but American Forces Network. I did not know that until I read that article).

The FEN site led me to the AFKN section of the Imjin Scout website. Imjin Scout's AFKN page was then spun-off into its own website, AFKN Alumni, which in turn has this AFKN history page and these pics).

AFNKorea.net also has its own history page... but for some reason, I cannot access it. Not sure if the problem is my computer or my location or what. But this is the Google cache of it.

Over here, one ex-AFRTS guy has uploaded a bunch of old radio broadcasts, dating back to 1964. Including the "American Disco Network," from 1978.

As for AFKN, now only did Roos work there when he was in the military, but so did the famous producer Garry Marshall and the famous deejay Kasey Kasem. I wonder if many more big entertainment people passed through AFRTS in Korea over the years.

Random Notes - Vol 3, No. 1

There was a potentially interesting story a couple of days ago in the Korea Herald about President-Elect Lee Myung-bak's transition plans, in particular about PE Lee thinking about getting rid of Korea's numerous press regulations. Which would be quite welcomed, at least by me. The Korean government's endless meddling in media (and so much else) is always annoying.

Not controlling the press. Allowing universities to set their own admissions policies. If PE Lee really going to pull the government back and reduce its clumsy, authoritarian tendencies, I think it would be very good for Korea.

My story on AFN getting kicked off of cable here in Korea has finally been published at The Hollywood Reporter. I am not exactly happy about the headline, but the story itself was fun to write (especially tracking down John Lee, AFKN engineer 1958-64).

As my story says, AFN is being taken off the local cable systems solely because of copyright concerns (unlike a lot of the more conspiratorial and even bizarre theories I have seen floating around). While the American networks are not exactly happy about anyone with an antenna being able to see their programs, what really pissed them off was the cable companies adding AFN to their selection of programming -- in effect, getting paid for an unauthorized retransmission.

Actually, it is quite unusual for AFN to be available on free-to-air TV, in the heart of a bustling metropolis. Most US Military bases are not in such heavily populated areas. Certainly AFKN was not in that sort of situation when the channel went on the air in 1957.

With a large military and military-related population to serve in Korea (and in particular, a large population that would need evacuating in the event of war), free-to-air AFKN was the most efficient way to make emergency announcements (at least in the pre-Internet era).

Anyhow, the pics AFN sent me did not make the online version of the story, so here are a couple for you.

HANSEL & GRETEL review to come tomorrow.

Taewang Sonata

I just checked out Episode 0 of TAEWANGSASHINGI (aka LEGEND, aka THE STORY OF THE FIRST KING'S FOUR GODS), the latest series starring Bae Yong-joon.


I know it is trendy to bash everything Bae Yong-joon (and I am as guilty of that as anyone)... but I must admit, I rather liked the pre-episode MBC-TV broadcast tonight. Sure, a lot of the effects look like something out of FINAL FANTASY, but for an Asian TV drama, I think they looked pretty good and quite inventive. In general, this is a good looking television series (especially on my HD television set).

The fighting and effects look pretty exciting, for the most part. The story is fresh, different from what we usually see on TV these days. The sets are just short of amazing. The monsters have some pretty good potential, too.

Best of all, it stars Moon So-ri, one of my favorite actors in Korea. Is this her first time acting in a television series? Well, in TAEWANGSASHINGI, she really kicks ass, killing people all over the place. Blood flying. I highly approve.

I know there has been a lot of negative talk about this series, a lot of sniping. But I cannot help but notice that a lot of the bad talk started way back in 2006, long before a single frame had been shot. And usually by people who had the least access to the story. I think there are a lot of Bae Yong-joon haters (not for no reason) and a lot of people who hate independent TV producers ... I think that explains a lot of the bad vibes surrounding the series so far.

I guess we will see beginning tomorrow. But so far, I have some hope this might be a fun series. The only people I know who have seen any episodes or read the script like it. I have hope. I doubt this series will redefine television or anything so grandiose, but it looks like it could be a fun 24 episodes.

Rank Music

Fairly lame article at The Korea Herald today (big surprise, I know) about pop music television programs that manages to repeat a lot of silly notions, reverse cause and effect, and in general misunderstand the music industry's woes. You can read it here.

The point of the article is that Korea's TV channels are thinking of bringing back chart shows, counting down the top songs of the week. Those shows were common and popular on Korean TV until a constant barrage of ranking scandals forced all those shows to give up their ranking schemes

That type of program was abolished in 2001 as debate over the fairness of such criteria gathered momentum. A big part of the controversy involved the recognition that such popularity-based programs were biased too much in favor of the tastes of teenyboppers, and more seriously, regarding possible favoritism resulting from the access which artists' agents had to programmers.

Note: The Korean Herald story claims the chart shows were discontinued in 2001, but I believe only KBS's Music Bank ended its countdown then. SBS's POP CHART LIVE went until January 2003. I cannot find my notes right now, but I think MBC, Mnet and KMTV all discontinued their charts later in 2003 when some big payola scandals broke.

Anyhow, the story was mostly okay up until that point, then it continues with this:

With the pop music market always redefining the term "worst possible," regarding really poor sales, (there have been only two albums which have sold over 100,000 copies in the first half of this year), networks are considering resurrecting such programs as a way of revitalizing the local pop music scene, which, once again, is triggering a controversy.

Not really the writer's fault, but what a stupid notion -- that chart shows will bring back interest in the music scene. Ratings were falling for the music chart shows for some time, as were sales.

"The depressed pop music market is related to the unpopular pop music programs," Kang Young-sun, producer of Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation's "Show Music Center" said in an interview. "The rating system should be positively encouraged if it can help the market regain its old popularity," he continued.

Ugh. No, the depressed music market is not a result of the unpopular music programs. The programs are unpopular because the music is unpopular.

Whatever angle you approach it from, the controversy boils down to a dispute over the fairness of the programs' criteria in deciding rankings.

Well, yes and no. Having reliable, fair charts is important. Certainly in the past, Korea's various charts were blatantly unfair, biased against artists who did not promote on a particular channel, and highly influenced by payola. Today, though, there is a lot less money being made and a lot more outlets for music (albeit the same music most of the time).

No, the real problem is not the current lack of charts but the continual reliance on teen-pop music to the complete disregard of almost all other genres. Sure it worked for Seo Taiji and H.O.T, but you can only go to the well so many times. It has been 14 YEARS, and the Korean music industry is still cranking out the same, tired formula.

When the Backstreet Boys stopped selling, the American music industry moved on and found new acts. Pop rises, pop falls, rock rises, rock falls, same with hiphop, country, and all the other genres. Just imagine what the American music industry would be like if, once Backstreet Boys stopped selling so well, the music industry kept pumping out more and more Backstreet Boys (and Backstreet Boys-like music). Of course sales would plummet.

But that is what the Korean music industry has done. A little bit of "techno" has been added to the mix, some "urban" (god, I hate the euphemism), but for the most part, it is the same gruel as ever. Sure, middle school kids deserve their bubblegum pop, but what about the rest of the country? Are 25-year-old men supposed to listen to that music? Are 40-year-old women?

Pop music desperately needs other genres to recharge its batteries. The annoying thing (to me) is that Korea once had that diversity. It had folk, rock, trot (of course) and more. But the military governments killed a lot of that, and then the huge success of dance-pop and ballads made way too many producers focus that music, which they did very well, but at the expense of almost everything else.

The movie industry revived in the late 1990s and early 2000s when it discovered new voices and variety (although that had given way to an ominous sameness in the last couple of years). Korean TV dramas did well around Asia for a time because they were so different than local fair (although they, too, are showing signs of losing popularity due to sameness).

When will producers in all of Korea's media realize that it is to their advantage to keep trying new things, instead of safely repeating the same thing, over and over? Korea's writers, directors and songwriters have all shown themselves to be incredibly talent and creative when given the chance. What is it going to take for them to get the chance again? Or, better yet, when will they demand their creative freedom again?

BCWW

We are now most of the way through the annual BroadCast WorldWide exhibition and conference, otherwise known as BCWW. BCWW has been going on for seven years now, and I have been attending since around the second year (although I have skipped a couple along the way).

BCWW is definitely an industry event. No celebrities or glitz. Just exhibitions halls and conference rooms and oodles of buyers and sellers walking around. I doubt many civilians would find it too interesting (actually, I doubt how many professionals find it interesting, but we all have jobs to do).

All day long, people not in meetings can amuse themselves listening to endless talks about the state of the industry, new media, trends and the like. See how many times each speaker can use words like "convergence" or "IPTV" (hrm... some real drinking game potential there).

This was the biggest BCWW yet. Thanks in part to organizers wisely flying in as many buyers as possible. If you have buyers, you have happy exhibitors. BCWW has come a long way since the first couple of years, although it certainly does not compare to the mega-markets, like MIPTV and MIPCOM (both held in Cannes, France). But I heard a lot of exhibitors saying nice things about the event.

Personally, I wish the nice BCWW folks would merge their event into the Pusan International Film Festival's movie market. Or at least hold BCWW at the same time in Pusan. Yeah, Pusan is a pain in the butt for all the Seoul-based VIPs, but the schmoozing synergy would be intriguing.

Too Lazy to Organize My Thoughts,aka, Random Notes - Vol 2, No. 4

There were a couple of good stories in the Chosun Ilbo today (believe it or not, it does happen).

"How to Spot the Real Crowd-Pleaser Movies" is a look at how much staying power Korean movies had last year. Calling it the "grapevine index," the writer divides each film's total attendance by its opening weekend attendance. The idea being, the more genuinely popular a film is, the most people will talk about it and get their friends to attend. If a film's popularity is just marketing driven, and the movie itself actually stinks, people will tell their friends to avoid it and it will soon be out of the theaters.

Grapevine Index of Top Film of 2006
1. Radio Star - 10.6
2. 200 Pound Beauty - 8.06
3. Tazza - 7.28
4. The Host - 6.42

Worst Film of 2006
1. Running Wild - 1.7
2. I'm a Cyborg, But That's Okay - 1.96
3. Bewitching Attraction - 2.1
4. Daisy - 2.14

I was quite surprised RADIO STAR did so well, especially considering all the competition in the period it came out. And BEWITCHING ATTRACTION seems to be more a victim of a misleading ad campaign than its inherent quality. Otherwise, the chart seems unsurprising, if interesting.

The other interesting story is this one, claiming that South Korean entertainment is getting into North Korea:

According to a survey of 30 North Korean defectors who settled in South Korea, popular songs and dramas from the South are not only all the rage in Pyongyang; they have also found their way to border regions like Kaesong, Nampo and North Hamgyeong Province. South Korean actors like Bae Yong-joon and Jang Dong-gun have many fans there. North Koreans buy South Korean videotapes and CDs from people who frequently travel across the Chinese border, the survey shows.

Dramas ruled the TV airwaves in 2006, led by JUMONG. In fact, all top-10 programs on free-to-air TV last year were dramas. KBS's 9 o'clock news only managed 19th.

Dramatic License

A fun look at the year ahead in Korean historical dramas here.

Historical dramas have done quite well on Korean television over the years. Sure, there has been a little ebb and flow, but overall historical dramas have been among the highest-rated shows for around a decade now. Starting with TEARS OF THE DRAGON (1996-8 on KBS) set in the transition period between the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties, the first big historical drama to catch people's attention. TEARS went from the story of the general Yi Sung-gye, who rose up against the Goryeo Dynasty to become king himself, to Yi's fifth son Bang-won, to Bang-won's eldest son, the womanizing Yang-nyeong. Finally Yang-nyeong renounces his crown to become a commoner, leaving the throne to his younger brother Hyo-reong. Hyo-reong then becomes a monk, leaving the throne to his nebbish younger brother Chung-nyeong.

You might have heard of Chung-nyeong by his royal name. Sejong. 'Tis a little famous in Korea.

Since then there have been too many big historical dramas to count, such as LADIES IN THE PALACE (Yeonin Cheonan, on SBS, 2001-2... which I could swear was once known as WOMEN WHO RULED THE WORLD), EMPEROR OF THE SEA, JEWEL IN THE PALACE, ... and of course JUMONG and HWANGJINI airing at the moment.

For a look at 2006's historical dramas, there is this short Korea Herald story. (Actually, there are better stories, but I so enjoy looking at the Herald's "premium" content for free...) Anyhow, a bigger story, about JUMONG and future series is here at the Korea Times.

I watch a fair amount of Korean movies and TV each year, and listen to a lot of music... but I would be lying if I said that many TV dramas are very interesting to me. I do hope that this will change, though. I am very happy to see OCN and Home CGV starting to broadcast original dramas. Hopefully this might shake things up, like HBO did to the mainstream networks in the United States in the 1990s. And some of the new generation of production companies are certainly ambitious.

The new Bae Yong-joon series, LEGEND, is going to cost around $40 million for 24 episodes (it was supposed to be $30 million, but has experiences a lot of cost overruns, especially for the sets). For that kind of money, we are getting close to the cost of an American TV series. Hopefully the production values will reflect that, and get more cinematic, less soap-opera-ish.

Oh, the company making LEGEND is also slated to make a 4-volume, 80-part version of CITY HUNTER. There will be four 20-part series, each set in a different city (Seoul, Tokyo, New York and France). The company, SSD, has a lot of good folks working there who are trying to learn from the best TV guys around the world.

Extelecommunicating Heretics

For a country with as much broadband Internet as Korea and that watches as much television as Koreans do, you would think that Internet TV would be a natural match. IPTV has been the next big thing in many territories about the world, with 1,300 IPTV channels being broadcast around the world (or so Wikipedia tells me).

South Korea's IPTV, however, has been stymied for years, thanks to the never-ending turf wars of various government ministries -- mostly the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Korean Broadcasting Commission, although the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy has also been involved and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism stepped in recently, further muddying the waters. Since IPTV represents the convergence of several fields (Internet technology plus TV broadcasting, plus telephony, plus who-knows-what-next), each field's individual regulator and policy body now wants the power over all IPTV.

Also complicating things was the Cable TV industry, which worries that IPTV could put them out of business. Korea's generally dodgy Cable business has been trying to upgrade its service, moving to HD digital, but last I checked, they were having serious technical problems (standard definition is okay, but HD is not working yet). So rather than get their own house in order and complete with the telecoms for customers, the cable industry has been furiously lobbying the government to prevent IPTV from taking off.

Now why, you might ask, should I care about IPTV? After all, Korean TV networks have streamed content over the Internet for years. But streaming is not the same thing as broadcasting.

IPTV also brings us closer to Triple Play, that converging of TV, Internet and telephone into one single package (even Quadruple Play, if you can combine mobile phones). Instead of having to pay for three separate services, you will just have one company providing all three. Theoretically for a lot less money than the three services cost separately.

Korea's mighty telecoms have been straining at the bit for years for the chance to move to IPTV. Everyone in Korea already has a mobile phone, and most people have Internet and cable TV, so it has been increasingly hard to find room for growth.

Hanaro Telecom finally got tired of waiting for the government to get its act together and last summer launched HanaTV. Which of course pissed off regulators to no end. But so far HanaTV is just Video on Demand, not full IPTV, and the government can see what is coming, so HanaTV has been left alone. KT has also started IPTV trials.

Finally last month, the government put forward legislation to create a new regulatory body that would combine telecommunications and broadcasting and sort out the whole mess.

Well, be careful of what you wish for. Especially when you have leadership like the Roh Moo-hyun administration. Because the law that Roh is pushing would create a new regulatory body MORE controlled by the president's office. Under the new bill, the president would appoint all five members of the new regulatory body's standing committee. This committee would be responsible for, among other things, appointing the presidents of the three public TV stations (KBS, MBC and EBS). Considering how overpoliticized the media already is in Korea, adding more politics to the mix is not a good idea.

In the IPTV age, why is the state involved in controlling broadcasting at all? In the past, the argument was that the airwaves belong to the public, so content should reflect the public good. But IPTV is not constrained by the limits of the open airwaves. You can have hundreds, thousands of Internet-broadcast channels. Year by year, the cable channels are getting better ratings and are posing better competition.

This is not just some abstract, technocratic debate. Koreans have proven, over and over again, that they far prefer receiving their entertainment content over the Internet, rather than buying packaged goods. CD sales have dropped nearly 75% since 2000 (down to barely $100 million), but Internet and mobile phone music sales might have topped $400 million last year (2006 figures are not available yet, but those are the early estimates I have heard). Video game boxes (like Playstation and Xbox) are barely an afterthought compared to Internet gaming. DVD sales never took off in the first place, and have since declined a lot.

The Korean movie industry has been overreliant on theatrical revenue for some time. Over 80% of most movies' revenue comes from the theaters (in the United States, DVD sales are often bigger than theatrical revenue). And more diverse revenues for TV producers would not hurt either. So IPTV has the potential to be a major boost for movies and TV.

In many ways, the future of the entertainment industry could be linked to this new law. But Roh, once again, has shown himself more concerned with asserting his power and the power of his office rather than taking the steps needed to empower the Korean people and their cultural industries. I do not mean to sound all high-and-mighty or rant too much, but it is so annoying small-minded politicians so intent on mucking things up once again.

(Btw, sorry for not writing much these days. But the book is taking up more and more time these days.)