MPP’s ‘bundling’ with popular channels… SOs have no way to refuse

Experts say current pay-TV channel trading rules do not reflect today’s bargaining-power balance between SOs and MPPs.

At a seminar, Sungshin University’s Yoo Sung-jin and Yulchon’s Han Seung-hyuk argued that large MPPs use popular channels to push bundle deals, making it hard for SOs to end specific channels one by one.

They called for updating the guidelines to match market conditions and for applying regulation based on actual negotiating power, not a blanket view that all SOs are dominant firms.

The mismatch in rules could keep fueling contract disputes and distort channel lineup decisions in the pay-TV market.