\tSouth Korea\u2019s competition watchdog gave conditional approval for the acquisition of two cable-TV companies by mobile operators, as they aggressively push to expand their footprints in the pay-TV sector, The Korea Herald reported.<\/p>\n
The decision by the Fair Trade Commission gives the green light for SK Telecom\u2019s ISP unit SK Broadband to acquire cable-TV operator t-broad for KRW4.7 trillion ($4 billion), and LG Uplus to purchase the country\u2019s largest cable-TV company CJ Hellovision for KRW800 billion.<\/p>\n
Both operators were ordered to take corrective action until the end of 2022 to limit price hikes and ensure consumers continue to have choice. These include a ban on increasing prices by more than the rate of inflation.<\/p>\n
FTC chairperson Joh Sung-wook told The Korea Herald the moves aim to tackle apprehension over the impact on consumers from any reduction to competition.<\/p>\n
Data from the Korea Communications Commission showed KT held a 31.1 per cent share of the pay-TV market at end-2018, followed by SK Broadband (14.3 per cent), CJ Hellovision (12.6 per cent), LG Uplus (11.9 per cent), t-broad (9.6 per cent) and D-Live (6.3 per cent), the newspaper wrote.<\/p>\n
In July 2016 the commission rejected market leader SKT\u2019s bid [1] to acquire CJ Hellovision over concerns the move would curb market competition.<\/p>\n[1] https:\/\/www.mobileworldlive.com\/asia\/asia-news\/south-koreas-antitrust-agency-rejects-skts-cable-tv-bit\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
South Korea’s competition watchdog gave conditional approval for the acquisition of two cable-TV companies by …<\/p>\n
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