A ‘2026 Winter Olympics’ promotional poster by JTBC. Provided by JTBC
Former MBC president Park Sung-je criticized the monopolization of international sports broadcasting rights by JTBC and called for securing universal viewing access.
On the 7th, on his social networking service (SNS) Facebook, he wrote, “In the Joseon era, those who hoarded rice were subjected to the harshest punishment,” and said that JTBC paying 700 billion won to exclusively secure through 2032 the Summer and Winter Olympics and Olympic broadcasting rights constituted market-disrupting conduct similar to hoarding.
He further analyzed that a public-goods perception lay behind the directive by President Lee Jae Myung to “improve the system so that anyone can easily watch international competitions”.
He added, “For the broadcasting rights negotiations to proceed, the Broadcasting Media and Communications Commission must hold the key,” and, “Do not give the rights only to KBS, MBC, and SBS; any broadcaster that wishes to should be able to purchase rights according to its own circumstances.”
Park also said, “JTBC, which engaged in hoarding, must inevitably accept economic disadvantages,” and, “If JTBC abandons the idea of recovering in full the principal of the rights fees it has unreasonably raised, negotiations are possible.”
Along with this, he said, “This is not about discussing abstract concepts such as ‘universal viewing rights’ that have been controversial lately; if the World Cup/Olympics are public-interest content significant enough for the president and the ruling party to voice concern, then broadcasters that have thrown the market into confusion must be held accountable, and there must be fundamental institutional reforms, including measures to prevent a recurrence.”
JTBC secured domestic broadcasting rights for the Olympics and the World Cup through 2032, and after resale talks with the three terrestrial broadcasters broke down, it carried the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics exclusively. Because the Milan Winter Olympics had only two broadcast channels, JTBC and Naver, criticism followed that viewers could not properly watch key events or moments.
Terrestrial broadcasters are protesting that monopoly by JTBC, a pay TV channel, infringes universal viewing rights for viewers, and the conflict over the resale price of the rights continues.
