S. Korea’s top streaming service Wavve provides K-content in North America

[Source : Wavve]

Wavve acquired Kocowa, a Los Angeles-based streaming provider, to help it expand its market into the North American market.

According to South Korea’s top streaming service firm, it held a board meeting on Thursday and decided on the acquisition of Kocowa. After the acquisition, Wavve’s largest shareholder, SK square, will increase its stake to 39.3 percent from the current 36.4 percent.

Kocowa, which stands for Korean Content Wave, was founded in 2016 by the nation’s mainstream broadcasters, such as KBS, MBC and SBS. It changed its brand name to Wavve America last year after SK square bought a 20-percent stake in the firm providing K-content to North American viewers.

Wavve is buying Kocowa stake from SK square and the broadcasters.

SK square tried to team up with its rival CJ ENM to overcome the country’s saturated streaming market and expand overseas. However, CJ selected KT Corp. as its strategic partner early this year and made a deal on a merger of its streaming service Tving with KT’s Seezn. As the Tving-Seezn merger, which will be completed by the end of this month, Wavve is set to bring K-content through Kocowa, whose programs are also distributed through partnerships with streaming services, such as Amazon Prime Video, Google TV, Roku, Comcast Xfinity, and Xumo.