Concerns were growing among TV viewers on Sunday after cable TV operators threatened to stop airing the programs of terrestrial broadcasters from Monday afternoon in protest of stalled talks on retransmission fees.

An emergency council of cable stations said Friday that most of the nation’s 94 cable operators have agreed to halt the broadcasts of terrestrial channels MBC, KBS 2TV and SBS both in high-definition and lower-quality standard definition.

“We will hold another meeting on Monday morning to decide the exact time we plan to cut off retransmission,” it said.

The fresh threat comes after cable stations halted airing of terrestrial programs in high definition for eight days in November. An estimated 7.7 million cable subscribers were forced to watch programs in lower-quality standard definition.

If they go ahead with a broadcast halt again, about 15 million viewers are expected to be directly affected this time, except for some households that watch TVs via antenna or subscribe to Internet-based networks.

The Korea Communications Commission on Sunday made last-ditch efforts to mediate both sides. Despite the broadcasting regulator’s threat to sanction them, however, no sign of agreement was seen.

“If cable operators don’t follow our order to resume broadcasts, we will take punitive measures like business suspension,” a KCC official said.

The negotiations started five years ago when terrestrial broadcasters demanded cable TV stations pay for using their programs.

Amid fierce resistance from cable operators, a local court ruled in favor of the terrestrial TV networks in October, ordering CJ Hello Vision, one of the SOs, to pay the fees or stop using the programs.

Terrestrial broadcasters have claimed that it is very natural for cable TV operators to pay to use their programs, while cable stations say that they have contributed to reducing shadow areas of TV coverage and helping terrestrial channels earn more advertisement profits.

Even though they tentatively agreed on 100 won ($0.08) per subscriber as the upper limit at the end of last year, they remain at odds over whether to charge the fees for all subscribers or only new subscribers.

The Korea Cable Television and Telecommunications Association plans to hold a press conference Monday afternoon ahead of halting broadcasting.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)