“Bohemian Rhapsody” reached the highest viewership share of all movies shown on TV during the Seollal holidays, but terrestrial broadcaster SBS faced criticism for deleting the film’s homosexual scenes. With gatherings restricted due to COVID-19, the broadcasters paid special attention to their movie selections to capture viewers stuck at home. SBS aired “Bohemian Rhapsody” at 8:40 p.m. on Satur...

"Mr. Queen," a historical comedic drama series that drew both popularity and controversy, has wrapped up on a strong note, with the final episode becoming the fifth most-watched drama on cable channel tvN. The series' 20th episode aired Sunday and recorded 17.4 percent in viewership, according to data by Nielson Korea. The figure marks the fifth-highest rating among tvN's drama series, followin...

MBC’s TV documentary special, ‘Meeting you,’ sheds light on the tragic death of a contract worker by using virtual reality technology

Local video streaming platform Wavve announced that it is providing 140 movies for free as compensation for network failures this year. Wavve, which has the highest number of users of all Korean OTTs, faced network problems on Jan. 27 that lasted over a week and prevented users from viewing much of its content. Another network failure on Jan. 29 led to adult content being shown for several secon...

Praised by the judges as a groundbreaking singer, Lee Seung-yoon, who has released a number as a soloist and is also the lead vocalist for the band Alary-Kanson, sang Lee Juck’s “Water” and received 100 million won ($89,647) in prize money. Rocker Jeong Hong-il came in second place, and Lee Mu-jin was third. “Ironically, the name of a singer, who obsessively refused to sing cover songs because h...

While a stock investing artificial intelligence system was able to make steady profit compared to South Korea’s main bourse Kospi and Kosdaq, it still wasn’t enough to surpass legendary stock investor Mach Seven. With only two competitions remaining in SBS’ reality show “Battle of the Century: AI vs Human,” the most recent episode on Saturday showed the stock investing AI battling it out with th...

TV Chosun’s hit audition show “Miss Trot 2” recorded a viewership rating of 30 percent Thursday, emulating the success of the men’s version last year . The 30 percent viewership share has traditionally been the threshold for a local entertainment show being considered a success. “Miss Trot 2” is officially the third season of the audition show series, following “Miss Trot” and its male version ...

The period comedy series "Mr. Queen" on tvN has become the biggest cable TV hit over the past year despite criticism over its Chinese original and some historically controversial scenes. The series' 16th episode that aired Sunday recorded 14.9 percent in viewership, according to data by Nielson Korea. It is the fifth-highest rated tvN's drama series of all time, following 21.7 percent by the ro...

Terrestrial broadcaster KBS has denied claims that it intentionally aired the aria “Song to the Moon” during one of its shows on President Moon Jae-in’s birthday to gain approval from the nation’s leader. On Tuesday, KBS’ music program “Open Concert” released an official statement in response to a controversy over soprano Kang Hye-jung’s performance of the “Song to the Moon” during the program w...

Omnibus drama “Love Scene Number,” spotlights themes of love, marriage and sex, with an emphasis on showcasing a woman’s point of view. The drama, made by streaming platform Wavve and terrestrial broadcaster MBC in a collaborative effort, kicked off Monday on both platforms. Wavve, the streaming platform created by three terrestrial broadcasters -- KBS, MBC and SBS -- and SK Telecom released al...

Humans, AI battle it out on SBS’ upcoming reality show

Kim Hong-sun, the director of multiple hit OCN dramas, is back Monday with a tvN action drama titled “L.U.C.A.: The Beginning.” “L.U.C.A.: The Beginning” centers on an experimental cell, Ji-O, that was created through the L.U.C.A. project. The aim of the project was to create the Last Universal Common Ancestor -- the cell that holds the secret to all life forms in existence. Ji-O takes human for...

Kakao TV’s original series “No, Thank You” placed in the top 10 most popular dramas’ list on streaming platform Wavve, the first such feat for a Kakao TV original drama, according to Wavve on Tuesday. The drama list is compiled based on the number of minutes played in total on Wavve in the fourth week of January. “No, Thank You” ranked 10th while SBS megahit drama “The Penthouse: War in Life” to...

Kakao Page and Kakao M announced Monday that they would merge into a new entity, Kakao Entertainment. The merger, which was agreed during the board of directors meetings of the two firms earlier that day, will be finalized through a general shareholders meeting on Tuesday. The biggest merger between the two subsidiaries of South Korea’s mobile tech conglomerate Kakao, the move aims to create syn...

An administrative guidance is given for minor violations of broadcasting regulations and has no legal implications for the broadcasters. More serious matters face legal restriction, fines and deduction in broadcasting evaluations that can make renewal of broadcasting rights difficult. The producers of the drama edited the controversial phrase regarding the Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynast...