Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation

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Munwha Broadcasting Company
Image:MBC_Korea.jpg
Type Broadcast radio and
television
Country Flag of South Korea Republic of Korea
Availability National
Owner Government of South Korea
Key people Choi Moon Soon, CEO
Launch date 1961 (radio); 1969 (television); 2001 (digital); 2005 (DMB)
Website www.imbc.com
Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation Official logo of Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation
Hangul:
문화방송
Hanja:
文化放送
Revised Romanization: Munhwa Bangsong
McCune-Reischauer: Munhwa Pangsong

Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) is one of four major national South Korean television and radio networks. It is particularly famous for its dramas and comedies. Munhwa is the Korean word for "culture." Its flagship terrestrial television station is Channel 11 for VHF.

Once government-owned, the network is today 70% owned by the Foundation for Broadcast Culture. It receives no government subsidies and derives its income almost entirely from regular commercial advertising. Seven of its 19 local stations are independent affiliates.

Contents

[edit] History

MBC was founded in 1961 as a small AM radio broadcaster in Seoul. It began television broadcasting on August 8, 1969 and FM radio broadcasts in 1971.

A mob outraged by the official media's coverage of the progressing Gwangju massacre stormed MBC's building in Gwangju on the night of May 20, 1980. Unable to operate the broadcasting equipment, they set it afire. Partly to address such concerns in light of the country's 1987 democratic reforms, the National Assembly established the Foundation for Broadcast Culture on December 26, 1988, to insulate MBC from political influence.

Since then, the network has promoted its independence and declared its mission to be one of public service and the promotion of Korean culture. Since 1997 it has refused to broadcast music with all-English language lyrics. In 2001 it proclaimed its support for President Kim Dae-jung's New Year's Day call for reform of the mass media, which was chiefly aimed at the national daily newspapers.

Also in 2001, MBC launched satellite television and cable television broadcasting. As part of this expansion it created MBC America, a subsidiary based in Los Angeles, California, USA to distribute its programming throughout The Americas.

In the summer of 2005, MBC faced harsh criticism when musicians were caught exposing themselves on the live music program Music Camp[1]. Because of South Korea's conservative culture, there were harsh criticisms aimed at the company from government officials and the general public (including some strong reactions from netizens). Although the short-term fallout from this scandal resulted in the program being cancelled, with its producers reprimanded[2] and its two MCs (MC Mong and Shinji from popular dance group Koyote) fired, there were no lasting effects, as its replacement program Music Core is still very similar to its predecessor. In addition, further criticism was levelled against MBC later that year when their investigative journalism show PD Su-cheop (Producer's Notebook) discovered the scientific fraud committed by geneticist Hwang Woo-Suk. Although the information was factual and instrumental in uncovering Hwang's misdeeds, the strong support for Hwang led most companies to pull their advertising out of the show[3], and it was greatly condemned as being too harsh.

[edit] Official logo

  • 1969~1980:Kyeonghyang Sinmun as other symbol in logo
  • 1980~1985:MBC 1st font logo
  • 1986~2004:MBC 2nd font logo (other hangul)
  • 2005~:MBC 3rd font logo (new font)

1969-1980

1980-1985

1986-2004

2005-Present

MBC & Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation

Good Friend MBC

[edit] MBC Programs

[edit] News Programs

  • MBC Newsdesk
  • News 24
  • MBC News
  • MBC Morning News

[edit] MBC Dramas

[edit] Current Affairs

  • 100 Minute Debate
  • Current Events magazine 2580
  • PD Sucheop
  • Issue & Issue


[edit] iMBC

iMBC is MBC's official website, prividing users with various information on current and past programs and allowing users to download or stream programs to watch.

Established March 2000 as the internet subsidiary of MBC, iMBC uses the digital contents of MBC to provide various contents to internet, mobile and ISP users and foreign businesses. iMBC also plans projects for creating, developing, and circulating new contents.

The site offers free and paid VOD services for users to view various programs online. While the Public service programs, News, Radio, and programs currently on air are free, dramas, entertainment, and current affairs programs are not.

For viewers in Korea and abroad, iMBC offers VOD streaming services. An episode typically costs around 500 Won, and there is a fixed fee that allows users to watch as many videos as they want for 4,000 Won a day or 15,000 {won]] a month. For users that are abroad, iMBC offers VOD download and streaming services, available for 1000 Won (about $1 US) each.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ Joongang Daily article
  3. ^ Bad Marks All Round In Hwang Scandal. Retrieved October 14th, 2006.
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