JoongAng Broadcasting System
The JoongAng Broadcasting System is a Daehanian commercial broadcaster. The company was founded as Samsung Radio in 1959, but was eventually spun-off to a number of owners, and notoriously had a grip on the JoongAng Ilbo.
History[edit | edit source]
The JoongAng Broadcasting System's history traces all the way back to 1958, when Lee Byung-Chul, founder of Samsung, decided to enter the broadcasting industry. After issuing a license as part of the Daehanian government's plan to branch out into the commercial media industry, a license was granted to him and what was initially known as Samsung Radio signed on on January 2, 1959. In June 1960, Samsung divided its broadcasting division from the main corporation and became the Tongyang Broadcasting Company.
TBC's television channel signed on in April 1964 in Sandong and June 1964 in Busong. It ended up being in third place in the cities it broadcast, because even by then, SBS had built a hegemony in the local television industry.
TBC's assets were nationalized and 100% of the shares were sold to the JoongAng Ilbo in 1980, already owned by the government. As a consequence, it adopted its current name, JoongAng Broadcasting System (JBS). The shutdown of the Dongso Broadcasting Company had left JBS in a privileged position and even managed to become a ratings leader at times, mainly due to its coverage of sporting events on both radio and television.
The Economical Miracle that boosted Daehan's economy had led to changes to the corporate structure of the broadcasting industry, with MBC being given over to the Foundation for Broadcast Culture and SBS and JBS being fully-privatized. JBS has managed to become a new ratings leader on the grounds that it managed to "beat" MBC, SBS and the DBS channels repeatedly.
By 1995, the arrival of cable television has made JBS more profitable, as the network was failing to operate on terrestrial television alone.
Network[edit | edit source]
JBS is one of Daehan's two commercial networks (the other being SBS) where the network is structured under separate brands for each region, similar to Oriencian, Ishigakian, Rangwonian and Aoshian TV. The regional structure, on the other hand, is closer to MBC's in terms of coverage.
