Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation

Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation
Type Broadcast radio and
television
Country South Korea
Availability South Korea, United States (Satellite, certain metropolitan areas over-the-air)
Owner The Foundation of Broadcast Culture
The Jeongsu Scholarship Foundation
Key people Ohm Ki-young, CEO & President
Launch date 1961 (radio)
1969 (television)
2001 (digital)
2005 (DMB)
Official Website www.imbc.com
Korean name
Hangul 문화방송
Hanja 文化放送
Revised Romanization Munhwa Bangsong
McCune–Reischauer Munhwa Pangsong

Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) is one of four major national South Korean television and radio networks. Munhwa is the Korean word for "culture." Its flagship terrestrial television station is channel 11 for VHF in Seoul, cable TV channel 25.

Twice government-owned, the network is owned by the Foundation of Broadcast Culture, which owns 70% of the company's stocks, while the Jung-Su scholarship association owns 30%. MBC receives no government subsidies and derives its income almost entirely from regular commercial advertising. It has 19 local stations and several subsidiaries.

The network originated from Busan Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation, the first private broadcasting corporation in the country. Now, MBC operates 19 regional stations and 10 subsidiaries, with over 4,000 employees. It has provided terrestrial digital TV service in the ATSC standard from 2001 and T-DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) service from 2005.

Contents

History

MBC Headquarters(Building), Yeouido, Seoul, South Korea

MBC began as Busan Munhwa Bangsong (Busan Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation; Busan MBC), established in 1959 in Busan, South Korea. The Radio station was then owned by Jeong Hwan-ok, a radio store operator and Kim Sang-yong, a former department store owner. The latter had suggested that Jeong should open a private broadcasting station since Japanese radio waves are too strong that time, it dominated Korea's Southern coastal areas and it picks up Japanese Radio programs.

On April 15, 1959, The Postal Ministry had gave permits for Busan MBC to operate, making it the First private-commercial broadcaster.

Busan MBC started its service with 1 kW AM radio and became known for broadcasting the first CM Song in South Korea.

The company, however, faced financial problems: production cost for a local radio show was higher than expected, and advertising spots were too cheap. The network had also faced management crisis.

On September 1959, Busan MBC was sold to Kim Ji-tae, who owned Busan Daily. It's management was revamped and the network was saved from bankruptcy.

After the Network was rejuvenated, Kim had decided to launch a private radio station in Seoul. That year, the postal ministry had approved four private stations to operate. He had purchased the right to operate a radio station in Seoul, and launched a network in 1961, with a small AM radio broadcaster (today, the best heavy stockholder of Busan MBC is MBC (in Seoul)). The MBC became the first private broadcasting network in South Korea.

But the network faced challenge when Kim was denounced by Park Chung-hee, South Korea's President at that time: Park accused Kim of corruption.

Kim was under pressure that time, s he was forced to surrender both Busan MBC and Busan Ilbo to the "May 16 Scholarship Foundation" in May, 1962. Although the network is now being managed by the Foundation, MBC has maintained its vital role as a private broadcaster.

MBC began television broadcasting on August 8, 1969 and FM radio broadcasts in 1971.

Under Chun Doo-hwan's Regime,South Korea's Media Policies had changed. The regime had closed several radio and TV Networks, including MBC on the November 14, 1980. 70% of the network's stakes were given to the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS).[1]

Partly to address concerns in light of the country's 1987 democratic reforms, the National Assembly established the Foundation for Broadcast Culture on December 26, 1988, to insulate MBC from political influence, and from KBS as well.

In 2001, MBC launched satellite television and cable television broadcasting. As part of this expansion it created MBC America, a subsidiary based in Los Angeles, California, USA to distribute its programming throughout The Americas.

On August 1, 2008, MBC America launched MBC-D, a television network carried on the digital subchannels of KSCI-TV, KTSF-TV, and WMBC-TV. The service was to be launched in Atlanta, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. by the end of the year.[2][3] In northeast metro Atlanta, it aired over the air on WKTB-LD channel 47.3, but now is on WSKC-CA 22.1.

MBC channels

MBC programs

Program guide

Drama

MBC dramas have taken part in the Korean wave . MBC dramas are exported to 30 countries including those in Asia, Middle East, Africa and the Americas. Dae Jang Geum has set the record high audience ratings in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and its popularity has continued in 50 countries including Japan. Other dramas that have enjoyed high viewership include Jumong, The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince, and Yi San. and also the recent drama, Queen Seondeok.

Entertainment

MBC’s hallmark reality program Infinite Challenge has held high viewership rating for three consecutive years. The comedians hosting Exclamation!, which ended its run in 2007, have promoted various interests such as reading, reuniting foreign workers in South Korea with their families, and providing medical help to the elderly.

Current affairs and documentaries

MBC documentaries encompass a wide range of issues from foreign affairs to the environment. PD Notebook premiered in 1990 and has since earned notoriety for its investigations from producers’ perspectives. Episodes have included one that covered scientific fraud by the Korean geneticist Hwang Woo-Suk and another that contained several disputed claims against importing US beef.[4] The latter episode, titled "Is American Beef Really Safe from Mad Cow Disease," contributed to three months of protest in Seoul against importing US beef. Since then, the accuracy of the episode and the program's method of obtaining information has been questioned.[5][6][7]

MBC current affair and documentary programs have won recognitions from TV festivals as New York TV Festival, Banff TV Festival, ABU Prizes, Earth Vision, Asian TV Awards and Japan Wildlife Festival.

News & sports

With 19 regional stations in Korea, 9 permanent overseas bureaus, and service arrangements with CNN, APTN, Reuters TV and NBC, MBC delivers the world into our homes. MBC also produces analysis programs such as News Magazine 2580, News Who, 100-Minute Debate, Economy Magazine, Global Report and North Korea Report, which cover political, economic, social and cultural issues of the day.

iMBC

iMBC is MBC's official website, providing users with various information on current and past programs and allowing users to download or stream programs to watch.

Established March 2000 as the internet subsidiary of MBC, iMBC uses the digital contents of MBC to provide various contents to internet, mobile and ISP users and foreign businesses. iMBC also plans projects for creating, developing, and circulating new contents.

The site offers free and paid VOD services for users to view various programs online. While the public service programs, News, Radio, and programs currently on air are free, dramas, entertainment, and current affairs programs are not.

For viewers in Korea and abroad, iMBC offers VOD streaming services. An episode typically costs around ₩500, and there is a fixed fee that allows users to watch as many videos as they want for ₩4,000 a day or ₩15,000 a month. For users that are abroad, iMBC offers VOD download and streaming services, available for ₩1000 (about $1 US) each.

Foreign partners

Foreign Partners[8]
Partner Country
ABC Australia
BBC UK
CBC Canada
CBS USA
NBC USA
CNN USA
France 2 France
GMA Network Philippines
ABS–CBN Philippines
TV5 Philippines
SMG China
CCTV China
NHK Japan
Fuji Television Japan
ZDF Germany

See also

References

  1. ↑ [1] [Viewpoint] Dramatic changes at MBC,JoongAng Daily,August.20,2009
  2. ↑ http://www.mbc24tv.com/html/dtv_en.asp
  3. ↑ http://www.mbc24tv.com/html/dtv_faq.asp
  4. ↑ Bad Marks All Round In Hwang Scandal Retrieved October 14, 2006
  5. ↑ [http://www.koreaherald.co.kr Lee Jung-bock: POLITICAL CHANGES IN KOREA(33) Korea on path to mature liberal democracy, 2008/02/15]
  6. ↑ MBC suspends producers for breaching ethics
  7. ↑ Media ethics judged, found wanting
  8. ↑ ZDF agrees cooperation with Chinese and Korean broadcasters, ZDF(press-release), Retrieved on June 9, 2004.

External links

Korean

English

MBC subsidiaries