Korea’s three major internet protocol television services – Olleh TV, U+ TV and Btv – announced on Tuesday that they will provide financial aid to films that hit theaters in March, in addition to pre-existing payments.

Satellite broadcasting provider KT SkyLife and cable video-on-demand service Home Choice will join the effort as well.

The coalition will give financial aid to films while they are available both in theaters and on video-on-demand platforms. The firm that invested in and distributed the film will receive the aid.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of moviegoers in Korea dropped by 73.7 percent in 2020 compared to the previous year and hit the lowest number since 2004 when the Korean Box Office Information System was introduced. As a result, many films gave up on theatrical releases and decided to start servicing on streaming platform Netflix.

“We hope this prevents the Korean film industry from handing over intellectual property rights to foreign platforms,” said a pay-per-view market insider.

The decision hopes to incentivize theatrical releases and lower the break-even point for films, taking pressure off the struggling movie theater industry.

BY HALEY YANG [yang.hyunjoo@joongang.co.kr]