South Korea's antitrust authority said on Sunday that it has decided to punish Google, Netflix, and three other video streaming firms a total of 19.5 million won ($16,300) for alleged unfair business practises involving paid subscriptions.
According to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), five over-the-top (OTT) media service providers — Google, Netflix, KT, LG Uplus, and Content Wavve – allegedly obstructed paying consumers' attempts to cancel their subscriptions.
According to the FTC, they allegedly offered false information or did not enable subscribers to cancel their membership online in order to make it difficult for clients to terminate the contract of utilising their services.
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In addition to the alleged penalties, the regulator ordered them to alter their business practices, according to the Yonhap news agency. According to a poll, more than 34% of South Koreans were paid users to over-the-top (OTT) media, or video streaming services.
According to a poll of 6,834 persons over the age of 13, paid subscribers to OTTs was at 34.8 percent last year, up 20.4 percentage points from the previous year, according to the country's media regulator, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC).
South Korea's OTT use rate increased to 69.5 percent, up from 66.3 percent the previous year, as a result of the pandemic-induced stay-at-home tendency. YouTube was the most popular OTT service in South Korea, with a usage rate of 65.5 percent, followed by Netflix, which had a usage rate of 24 percent. Wavve and Tving, both indigenous players, had use rates of 4.4%. Last year, customers spent 80 minutes per day on OTT services, up from 76 minutes the previous year and 60 minutes in 2019.
