Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation

Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation
	Latin-alphabet logo used since 3 January 2005
	MBC headquarters in Sangam-dong, Mapo District, Seoul
Native name
Korean name
Hangul	주식회사 문화방송
Hanja	株式會社文化放送
Revised Romanization	Jusikhoesa Munhwa Bangsong
McCune–Reischauer	Chushikhoesa Munhwa Pangsong
Company type	Public broadcasting company
Traded as	KRX: 052220
Industry	Broadcast radio and television
Founded	21 February 1961; 63 years ago
Headquarters	267, Sangam-dong, Mapo District, Seoul, South Korea
Area served	South Korea; United States (satellite, certain metropolitan areas over-the-air);
Key people	Ahn Hyung-joon, CEO and president (2023-present)
Revenue	1,500,941,912,398 won (2015)
Operating income	59,272,035,738 won (2015)
Net income	82,403,520,805 won (2015)
Total assets	2,557,227,645,206 won (December 2015)
Total equity	1,000,000,000 won (December 2015)
Owner	Government of South Korea through The Foundation of Broadcast Culture: (70%); Chungsoo Scholarship Foundation: (30%);
Number of employees	1,712 (December 2015)
Subsidiaries	MBC Plus; MBC C&I; iMBC; MBC Arts; MBC Play Fee; MBC Academy; MBC America; MBC Nanum;
Website	IMBC.com

Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC; Korean: 주식회사 문화방송; Hanja: 株式會社文化放送; RR: Jusikhoesa Munhwa Bangsong; lit. "Joint-stock company Cultural Broadcasting") is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters. Munhwa is the Sino-Korean word for "culture". Its flagship terrestrial television station MBC TV broadcasts as channel 11.

Established on 2 December 1961, MBC's terrestrial operations have a nationwide network of 17 regional stations. Although it operates on advertising, MBC is a Network Radio Television as its largest shareholder is a public organization, the Foundation of Broadcast Culture. MBC consists of a multimedia group with one terrestrial TV channel, three radio channels, five cable channels, five satellite channels and four DMB channels.

MBC is headquartered in Digital Media City (DMC), Mapo District, Seoul and has the largest broadcast production facilities in Korea including digital production centre Dream Center in Ilsan, indoor and outdoor sets in Yongin Daejanggeum Park.

History

Radio era (1961–1968)

Launching the first radio broadcast signal (call sign: HLKV, frequency: 900 kHz, output: 10 kW) from Seoul, MBC started as the first non-governmental commercial broadcaster in Korea. On 12 April 1963, it obtained a license from the government for operating regional stations in major cities (Daegu, Gwangju, Daejeon, Jeonju) in Korea, and established a broadcast network which connects six cities including Seoul and Busan.

Black and white TV era (1969–1980)

MBC launched TV broadcasting on 8 August 1969 (call sign: HLAC-TV, output: 2 kW), and started to broadcast its main news program MBC Newsdesk on 5 October 1970. It reached an affiliation deal with 7 commercial stations (in Ulsan, Jinju, Gangnueng, Chuncheon, Mokpo, Jeju, Masan) between 1968 and 1969, and started nationwide TV broadcasting through its 13 affiliated or regional stations. In 1974, FM radio was launched, and MBC took over the Kyunghyang Shinmun (daily newspaper company).

Colour TV era (1980–1990)

The first colour TV broadcasting was started on 22 December 1980. MBC was separated from the Kyunghyang Shinmun according to the 1981 Basic Press Act. In 1982, it moved into the Yeouido headquarters. That same year, the network founded its baseball team, MBC Cheong-ryong (Blue Dragon), which entered the KBO League as a charter team, in addition to the network being the first home of the league's TV broadcasts. With the live coverage of the 1986 Seoul Asian Games and the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, MBC made a great advancement in scale and technology.

Ownership of the Blue Dragon was passed to LG Corporation in 1989.

Multimedia era (1991–2000)

After rapidly growing into a large corporation, covering major international events, MBC established specialized companies for each value chain (MBC Production, MBC Media Tech, MBC Broadcast Culture Center, MBC Arts Company, MBC Arts Center) and spined them off as subsidiaries to become a more efficient corporation amid fiercer competition in the multimedia era. ※ MBC Production and MBC Media Tech were merged into MBC C&I in August, 2011.

Digital era (2001–present)

As the convergence of broadcasting and communications becomes full-fledged, MBC made its subsidiary iMBC (internet MBC) an independent corporation and pursued various internet-related business. Furthermore, it started cable TV (MBC Plus Media,) satellite TV, new DMB broadcasting and full daytime broadcasting on terrestrial television. In 2007, MBC established digital production centre Ilsan Dream Center, which is equipped with high-tech production facilities. In September 2014, it completed the construction of a new headquarters building and moved from Yeouido to Sangam-dong, opening a new era of Sangam MBC.

In 2001, MBC launched satellite and cable television broadcasting. As part of this expansion, it created MBC America, a subsidiary based in Los Angeles, United States, to distribute its programming throughout the Americas. On 1 August 2008, MBC America launched MBC-D, a television network carried on the digital subchannels of KSCI-TV, KTSF-TV, and WMBC-TV. The service was planned to be launched in Atlanta, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. by the end of the year.^[2] In northeast metro Atlanta, it aired on WKTB-CD channel 47.3 (now a Telemundo affiliate), but as of 2011 is on WSKC-CD channel 22.1.

In March 2013, computer shutdowns hit South Korean television stations, including MBC.^[3] The South Korean government asserted a North Korean link in the March cyberattacks, which has been denied by Pyongyang.^[4]

International relations

MBC is an active member of international organizations such as ABU (Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union), IATAS (International Academy of Television Arts & Science) and INPUT (International Public Television Screening Conference), and is affiliated with 21 broadcasters in 13 countries.

It is engaged in various global business through overseas corporations in Los Angeles and Shanghai, and bureaus in North America, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East as well as Asia, in close cooperation with major global media groups.

MBC is devoted to entering foreign markets and expanding the business area. It maintains a close relationship with foreign buyers by participating in major content markets every year such as MIP-TV, MIPCOM, NATPE, BCWW and ATF. It operates an English website that introduces various MBC content to overseas buyers and viewers so that they can easily access its content.

MBC drama What on Earth Is Love? is the first Korean Wave drama which sparked the K-drama boom across China, when it was aired on CCTV in 1997. Since then, numerous MBC dramas, entertainment shows, and documentaries have been exported to different countries. The drama Dae Jang Geum was shown in as many as 91 countries around the world. More recently, MBC is widening its content business area by exporting show formats such as I Am a Singer, We Got Married and Dad! Where Are We Going? to other countries.

Channels

One terrestrial TV (MBC TV — channel 11)
Three radio stations:

Name	Frequency	Power (kW)
MBC Standard FM	95.9 MHz FM	/>10 kW (FM)
MBC FM4U	91.9 MHz FM	10 kW
Channel M	CH 12A DAB	2 kW

Five cable/satellite (MBC Drama, MBC Sports+, MBC M, MBC every1 and MBC ON)
Three terrestrial DMB (TV, radio, data)
Two satellite DMB (MBC Drama, MBC Sports+)

Headquarters

Current MBC headquarters located in Sangam-dong (4 August 2014 – present).
MBC Dream Center located in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province (30 November 2007 – present).
Old MBC headquarters located in Yeouido (17 February 1982 – 3 August 2014).
Old MBC building located in Jeong-dong (8 August 1969 – 16 February 1982; now used by Kyunghyang Shinmun).