Amid Netflix’s dominance in the local streaming market, merger of South Korea’s popular streaming platforms approved on condition of fee freeze through end of 2026
Popular South Korean streaming services Tving and Wavve have been given the green light for a merger.
On Tuesday, the Fair Trade Commission granted conditional approval for the merger of the two platforms, imposing a measure that requires the companies to maintain their current subscription fee levels through the end of 2026 in order to prevent potential price hikes tied to the launch of bundled products.
Entertainment giant CJ ENM currently owns Tving, while Wavve operates as a joint venture between terrestrial broadcasters KBS, MBC and SBS, and telecom operator SKT.
In its review of the deal, the antitrust regulator said it examined whether subscription fees for consumers could rise post-merger.
According to the FTC, both Tving and Wavve command a substantial base of loyal subscribers. Due to the availability of exclusive content, these subscribers tend to exhibit relatively low price sensitivity.
In particular, the FTC said subscribers who highly value exclusive content, such as Tving and Wavve’s live broadcast channels and KBO League baseball coverage, would find it difficult to switch to competing services, even if prices were to increase under a bundled model.
To address concerns over potential fee increases and other anticompetitive effects in the streaming market, the FTC said that it approved the merger on the condition that Tving and Wavve maintain their existing pricing plans from the date the corrective order is issued — Tuesday — through Dec. 31, 2026.
Furthermore, should Tving and Wavve be integrated into a single service during this period, the FTC said the new service must introduce a new pricing plan that is comparable to their current plans in both price range and service offerings, and maintain this new structure through the same 2026 deadline.
As of January 2025, Tving and Wavve rank second and fourth in the market, respectively, accounting for 16.5 percent and 9 percent of total streaming service usage time on smartphones in South Korea. According to the same data, Netflix accounts for 61.1 percent. Tving and Wavve have been pursuing a merger since late 2023 as part of efforts to expand their combined market share.
yoonseo.3348@heraldcorp.com
