Separate levy of KBS license fees to be implemented as early as this month

[Courtesy of KBS]

Korea Broadcasting System (KBS) license fees will be separated from electricity bills for the first time in 29 years. Television license fees have been automatically collected by state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) as part of the electricity charges since 1994.

On Thursday, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) held a plenary session and approved the revised enforcement decree of the Broadcasting Act containing the changes in fee collection.

The amendment was passed with a vote of two to one. The main point of the revision was to remove the provision that allowed KEPCO to collect television license fees together with electricity charges.

The new rule is expected to be promulgated and enforced by mid-July, subject to approval by a vice-ministerial meeting, the Cabinet, and President Yoon Suk Yeol. Currently, the license fees amount to 2,500 won ($1.92) per household per month. KEPCO deducts collection agency fees and pays the remaining amount to the KBS and the Educational Broadcasting System (EBS). As of 2020, 47.3 percent of KBS funding and 6.2 percent of EBS funding came from television license fees.

Kim Hyo-jae, acting chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, explained during an open meeting with lawmakers before the plenary session, “Television license fees are not just a matter for KEPCO, KBS, and EBS. It is an issue for all citizens who bear the burden of the fees.”

“KBS predicted that its related income may drop from 600 billion won to the 100 billion won range with the separation of license fee collection. This indicates that KBS has been overly reliant on license fees and operated recklessly,” Kim said.

Following this separation, the number of households refusing to pay the license fees is likely to increase.

Regarding the KCC’s decision, KBS argued that there are procedural issues with the decree amendment. While ruling party members emphasized the need for a reasonable television license fee collection system, opposition party members criticized the decision, saying that “the ruling has no common sense in procedure, content, or form, and is solely aimed at the regime’s control of the airwaves.”