After the major cable broadcaster JTBC defaulted on two loans for KRW 20.6b (USD 13.6m) on June 12, JTBC’s holding company JoongAng Holdings 중앙홀딩스 could not stem the tide. JTBC and two other JoongAng group companies filed for bankruptcy on June 15, while the holding company’s newspaper arm JoongAng Ilbo 중앙일보 began direct negotiations with creditors.
Even in the context of a long-suffering media market, the downfall of South Korea’s second largest newspaper, founded by the in-laws of the Samsung Group 삼성그룹’s founding family, has shocked the public. The bankruptcy is likely to reshape South Korea’s business landscape for news, cable television, movie theaters and content creation.
The JoongAng Group’s production companies have created such hits as Culinary Class Wars 흑백요리사 and The King’s Warden 왕과 사는 남자, but mounting production costs became a millstone around JoongAng’s neck. Its competitor TV Chosun TV 조선, the cable TV arm of South Korea’s largest newspaper Chosun Ilbo 조선일보, remained profitable, by comparison, relying instead on a catalogue of far-right talk shows and singing contests that are cheap to produce.
