케이블 채널 사업의 시장성과에 관한 검토 = 편성요소, 시청률, 수입간의 상관관계

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Korean cable television industry was practically set up almost overnight in 1995 by the strong government drive to start a multichannel television. Recent years have witnessed the industry transforming from a regulation-laden field into the one operating under the market principles. In spite of such a tremendous changes, there is little research dealing with empirical analysis of cable television industry in Korea. It is partly due to lack of reliable data per se. 'This study explores the determinants of cable television network's revenue and profit by looking at correlations among programming characteristics, ratings performance, costs, and profits. Programming aspects such as reruns, proportion of imported programs, and that of in-house programs have been frequently mentioned in the policy talks over the years. And this study aims to evaluate if such policies have attained the purported goals. In addition, an ad-hoc analysis of American market of cable television shows the difference between the two markets, which enhances the understanding of cable television industry.
The result shows that ratings and costs of programming are highly correlated. On the other hand, programming characteristics such as the frequency of rerun and the proportion of imported programs have little correlation with ratings. Korean regulatory agencies have long made an effort to develop the domestic production industry by way of limiting the imports, and the business has been arguing that such policy would limit the popular appeal of the cable programming resulting in lower ratings and slower growth of cable television. The proportion of imported programs varies a lot from a network to another. However, if we limit the analysis to entertainment-oriented networks as opposed to information-oriented ones, the ratings tend to increase as the proportion of imports goes up. The result suggests that regulating the proportion of imported and domestically-produced programs is in vain.
Ratings are indeed correlated with costs variable. Higher investments on programming results in higher average ratings. The policy decision not to exclude large conglomerates with deep pockets has proved to be valid. Advertising revenue does vary according to ratings contrary to the wide-spread belief that normal advertising market is not operating in cable television.
A surprise finding is that the profit is not at all correlated with ratings. Although ratings and costs go hand in hand, it is not desirable that the firms with better performance do not get rewarded with higher profits.