SK Telecom acquires stake in Korea Content Platform founded by SBS, KBS, and MBC television networks

SK Telecom, a leading telecommunication company in South Korea, has acquired a 20% stake in Korea Content Platform (KCP), a joint venture between the three major Korean television broadcasters including SBS, KBS, and MBC.

The business that was founded in 2016 is based in the United States and was established to bring Korean content to America. According to Pulse News, SK Telecom revealed last weekend that it has completed the acquisition of a 20% stake in KCP, and the deal is worth ₩30 billion or around $25.8 million.

The telecom firm made the move to build up its contents portfolio and audience reach of its Wavve over-the-top (OTT) platform. The KCP has launched its streaming service called KOCOWA (Korean Content Wave), and it has been releasing Korean video content for streaming since 2017. It was said that the service has more than one million subscribers in the U.S.

Telecom companies today are competing not just in mobile service, but as they are also expanding to other ventures, their competition has branched out to content and pay TV. With this said, SK Telecom Corp. has also ventured into the content business and now working to develop it further, and the acquisition of a stake in KCP is part of the plan for this goal. It was said that through partnerships and acquisitions, the company is trying to catch up with Netflix.

SK Telecom has also entered the metaverse field with the launch of its ifland platform in July. This was also introduced to kickstart its 5G virtual service business. Ifland is available for Android device users, and later, the platform will also be on iOS and other VR gadgets.

Meanwhile, SK Telecom is promoting world peacekeeping in ifland. It has joined hands with South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for this campaign that was announced on Sunday, Aug. 29. Korea IT Times reported that the company will be part of the 2021 UN Peacekeeping Ministerial that will be held in Seoul from Dec. 7 to 8.

This affair is said to be the largest and highest-level meeting in the field of peacekeeping activities. Finally, the event is proceeding, but due to the COVID-19 situation, SK Telecom and the MFA will hold the launching ceremony for the young peacekeepers on ifland.

“I was delighted to be able to capture the passion of young peacekeepers in the ifland, "SKT Metaverse project head, Yang Maeng Seok, said. “We will continue to actively support internationally meaningful activities and events to be held in the Metaverse space in the future.”