Culture Ministry claims right to all 'content'
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Korea's fast-growing digital and "Korean Wave" industries have produced an unlikely outcome: The two government agencies in charge of each sector are clashing with each other for a bigger portion of the state budget.
The conflict is taking on a new turn as once disparate technologies - broadcasting, telecommunications and internet - are converging in a way that creates new business opportunities and redefines the way content is made, distributed and regulated.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism yesterday voiced its own position on the ongoing dispute: It will take charge of everything defined as "content".
"There is analog content, digital content and broadcasting content, but we should move toward an integrated concept", Culture and Tourism Minister Kim Myung-gon told reporters. "I hope people wouldn't see this as a conflict of interest among different government agencies".
But Kim's worry is exactly how the local media see it. The Culture Ministry is claming everything labeled as cultural content - movies, dramas, music, animation, games and character business. What's more, Culture Ministry officials proudly argued they have greatly helped initiate and nurture the current Korean Wave, an Asia-wide fad for Korean pop culture.
The Ministry of Information and Communication sees it differently: Analog cultural products should be controlled by the Culture Ministry, but digitally made products for mobile phones and other communications media belong to the Information Ministry.
The conflict is deepening as the Korean government is trying to create a new communications and broadcasting regulatory body - similar to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission - as the boundaries between communications and broadcasting are becoming increasing blurred.
The popularity of mobile TV on cell phones is a case in point. The content for such a device is broadcast, so under the supervision of the Korean Broadcasting Commission, but the medium is controlled by the Information Ministry. The Culture Ministry is now arguing that if the content is a movie, it should be entitled to control and promote the part-broadcast, part-communications and part-cultural product.
A preparation committee comprising 20 members from government and private sectors is currently working on new legislation to create the new body to regulate both communications and broadcasting. The committee aims to have the bill clear the National Assembly in February next year, but its fate remains uncertain due to the yawning gap in opinions among the parties involved.
Culture Ministry officials including Minister Kim said that apart from the new regulatory body, the Culture Ministry should be in charge of controlling and promoting content, regardless of its format. That way, they argued, the government will be able to eliminate overlapping investment and provide a unifying policy line to nurture the potentially lucrative content business as an economic growth engine for the future.
But the bigger, and possibly more important, point is that in return for its supervisory role in content business, the Culture Ministry officials said a new fund backed by taxpayers' money should be created.
The KBC and the Information Ministry currently both receive such funds. If a new regulatory body is created, the two funds could be merged and 50 percent converted into what the Culture Ministry calls a "content promotion fund", which is estimated at about 400 billion won.
The KBC claims that broadcasting content should be controlled by the new regulatory body, and the Information Ministry argues that it should take control of digital content no matter what, showing no signs of compromise.
By Yang Sung-jin
The conflict is taking on a new turn as once disparate technologies - broadcasting, telecommunications and internet - are converging in a way that creates new business opportunities and redefines the way content is made, distributed and regulated.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism yesterday voiced its own position on the ongoing dispute: It will take charge of everything defined as "content".
"There is analog content, digital content and broadcasting content, but we should move toward an integrated concept", Culture and Tourism Minister Kim Myung-gon told reporters. "I hope people wouldn't see this as a conflict of interest among different government agencies".
But Kim's worry is exactly how the local media see it. The Culture Ministry is claming everything labeled as cultural content - movies, dramas, music, animation, games and character business. What's more, Culture Ministry officials proudly argued they have greatly helped initiate and nurture the current Korean Wave, an Asia-wide fad for Korean pop culture.
The Ministry of Information and Communication sees it differently: Analog cultural products should be controlled by the Culture Ministry, but digitally made products for mobile phones and other communications media belong to the Information Ministry.
The conflict is deepening as the Korean government is trying to create a new communications and broadcasting regulatory body - similar to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission - as the boundaries between communications and broadcasting are becoming increasing blurred.
The popularity of mobile TV on cell phones is a case in point. The content for such a device is broadcast, so under the supervision of the Korean Broadcasting Commission, but the medium is controlled by the Information Ministry. The Culture Ministry is now arguing that if the content is a movie, it should be entitled to control and promote the part-broadcast, part-communications and part-cultural product.
A preparation committee comprising 20 members from government and private sectors is currently working on new legislation to create the new body to regulate both communications and broadcasting. The committee aims to have the bill clear the National Assembly in February next year, but its fate remains uncertain due to the yawning gap in opinions among the parties involved.
Culture Ministry officials including Minister Kim said that apart from the new regulatory body, the Culture Ministry should be in charge of controlling and promoting content, regardless of its format. That way, they argued, the government will be able to eliminate overlapping investment and provide a unifying policy line to nurture the potentially lucrative content business as an economic growth engine for the future.
But the bigger, and possibly more important, point is that in return for its supervisory role in content business, the Culture Ministry officials said a new fund backed by taxpayers' money should be created.
The KBC and the Information Ministry currently both receive such funds. If a new regulatory body is created, the two funds could be merged and 50 percent converted into what the Culture Ministry calls a "content promotion fund", which is estimated at about 400 billion won.
The KBC claims that broadcasting content should be controlled by the new regulatory body, and the Information Ministry argues that it should take control of digital content no matter what, showing no signs of compromise.
By Yang Sung-jin
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