Separate billing for TV transmission fee receives final approval

The TV transmission fee for state broadcasters will be collected separately starting Wednesday, the biggest change in the billing system since it was adopted nearly three decades ago.

An electricity bill left in a mailbox at an apartment building in the Mapo District, western Seoul. [YONHAP]

The TV transmission fee for state broadcasters will be collected separately starting Wednesday, the biggest change in the billing system since it was adopted nearly three decades ago.

Previously included in the monthly electricity bill, the Cabinet on Tuesday approved splitting the TV transmission fee from household electricity bills after the Korea Communication Commission (KCC) amended the enforcement ordinance of the Broadcasting Act last week.

The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), the state broadcaster, immediately criticized the decision, stating it will take the case to the Supreme Court.

As President Yoon Suk Yeol granted his final approval to the amendment in the afternoon, the 2,500-won ($1.90) TV licensing fee will no longer be part of the electricity bills.

“We expect [the amendment] to help the public be clearly aware of whether the TV transmission fee has been collected, and will result in increased interest and awareness of the transmission fee,” said Prime Minister Han Duck-soo during the Cabinet meeting held at the government complex in central Seoul.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo speaks during the Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday at the government complex in central Seoul. [YONHAP]

“The TV transmission fee has been collected together with the electricity bill until now, making it difficult for people to know that they were paying the fee at all, which led some people to pay the fee even if they didn’t own a TV,” said the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the KCC in a joint release Tuesday.

“By notifying and collecting the transmission fee separately from the electricity bill, the public will be able to clearly know whether the fee has been collected and how much has been charged.”

While missing the TV transmission fee could have resulted in an electricity cut-off under the integrated system, splitting the two will prevent such issues, according to the release.

The state-run utility Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco), which collects the electricity bill, said that it will come up with a new billing system in three months after negotiating a new contractual arrangement with KBS.

The TV transmission fees will be collected under the current billing system in the meantime, but Kepco said that it will provide other options to separately pay the bills until the new system is adopted.

Following the Cabinet meeting, KBS issued a statement criticizing the decision, saying that “collecting the transmission fee will cost an astronomical amount of money.”

“Even with the amendment approved, the public will still be liable to pay the transmission fee, so splitting the billing system will only cause inconvenience in payment,” said KBS, adding that “the transmission fee that needs to be spent in developing new programs and carrying out social responsibility will be allocated for collecting the fee.”

The public broadcaster, which went into emergency management mode Monday, said that it will take the case to the Supreme Court.

KBS has previously filed a suit with the Supreme Court citing a procedural error in notifying the amendment proposal.

KBS has been the biggest benefactor of the billing system as it takes 91 percent of the 2,500-won TV transmission fee, while 3 percent goes to the Educational Broadcasting System.

Kepco takes 6 percent as a commission on billing households.

The transmission fee through the electricity bill accounted for 45 percent of KBS's revenue last year at 693.5 billion won.

As of the third quarter of 2022, pay-TV subscribers amounted to 36 million, equivalent to 70 percent of the Korean population.

BY SHIN HA-NEE, LEE HO-JEONG [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]