Optimism is growing in the home shopping industry that the burden of transmission fees — which have run close to 2 trillion won ($1.31 billion) annually — may finally ease, as the government signals it will take a more active role in mediating the charges to revive the struggling sector. Industry officials expect the shift to affect negotiations as early as this year.
According to a report released Tuesday by the Korea TV Home Shopping Association, the seven TV home shopping companies — including five that also operate data home shopping channels — paid a combined 1.92 trillion won in transmission fees to pay-TV operators last year. The figure climbed steadily from 1.21 trillion won in 2016, peaking at 1.94 trillion won in 2023 before edging slightly lower.
Transmission fees are what home shopping companies pay to secure channel slots on cable TV, satellite and IPTV platforms. The core problem is structural: even as pay-TV subscriber numbers continue to decline, the fees keep rising. The share of cable TV revenue derived from subscription fees fell from 38.8 percent in 2016 to 34.15 percent in 2025, while the share from home shopping transmission fees rose from 35.4 percent to 42.4 percent over the same period.
The same pattern holds for satellite and IPTV. Subscription fees as a share of satellite broadcaster revenue dropped from 59 percent in 2016 to 55.3 percent in 2025, while home shopping transmission fees climbed from 26.9 percent to 37.7 percent. For IPTV operators, the subscription fee share fell from 70.9 percent to 57 percent, while home shopping transmission fees rose from 13.9 percent to 31.1 percent.
Broadcast sales at home shopping companies have declined every year. Combined broadcast sales at the seven companies fell from 3.02 trillion won in 2021 to 2.62 trillion won in 2025. Critics say pay-TV operators have been using transmission fees to offset revenue lost from shrinking subscription income.
"If the industry were booming, the burden would not feel so heavy — but right now the entire home shopping sector is gripped by a sense of crisis," said one industry official. In 2023, when transmission fees hit their peak, major operators including Lotte Home Shopping, Hyundai Home Shopping and CJ OnStyle went so far as to threaten broadcast blackouts by pulling their channels off the air.
The industry is closely watching ongoing transmission fee negotiations, with expectations that the government-backed fee verification committee — which mediates between pay-TV operators and home shopping companies — will be given stronger powers. The Broadcasting, Media and Telecommunications Commission reviewed a plan in May to expand the committee's role to include calculating and presenting proposed settlement figures. If the two sides fail to reach an agreement by the end of August, either party may apply to the committee for mediation.
A reduction in transmission fees would significantly improve profitability across the sector. Some companies are understood to spend as much as 70 percent of their sales on transmission fees. "It is encouraging that there is now a shared understanding of the difficulties facing the home shopping industry," another industry official said.
This marks the first time home shopping industry issues have appeared on the commission's agenda since it was launched. The commission also plans to reduce the mandatory quota for products from small and medium-sized enterprises sold on home shopping channels — with the key measure being a phased 10-percentage-point cut to the SME programming ratio for all home shopping operators except public home shopping channels.
![The home shopping industry, hit hard by falling TV viewership, is hoping for relief from transmission fee burdens. Photo is for illustrative purposes only. [123RF]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/07/07/news-p.v1.20260407.059ce9e255fc4f14968b49c58eea13be_P1.jpg)
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