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KBS to roll out 'K-Channel 82' in U.S. through Sinclair Broadcast Group deal

Published: 16 Mar. 2026, 20:34

KIM JU-YEON
[email protected]

KBS President Park Jang-beom, left, and Sinclair Broadcast Group President Del Parks sign for a photo at a signing ceremony for a strategic collaboration agreement to create a new channel in the United States, on March 16. [KBS]

KBS signed a deal with U.S. station group Sinclair Broadcast Group to bring free KBS programming to about 30 million U.S. households through a new channel on Sinclair’s broadcast network, Korea's state broadcaster said Monday.

Under the strategic collaboration agreement, the companies plan to roll out a terrestrial free-to-air channel called “K-Channel 82” across Sinclair’s 185 local television stations, KBS said. The broadcaster did not provide a timeline for the channel’s launch.

The companies also plan to develop a mobile app to stream KBS content and link viewers to retailers selling related products.

Viewers could, for example, click on a video of a K-pop star on a music show and be directed to websites selling food or beauty products used by the artist, KBS said. The two companies have agreed on a revenue-sharing model, under which advertising revenue generated from KBS content will be shared with Sinclair.

Under the deal, KBS will also share its disaster broadcasting technology with Sinclair and jointly develop a U.S. version of its disaster data transmission service. The system combines GPS data with terrestrial broadcast networks to deliver location-specific emergency alerts, including evacuation information and safety instructions, even when communication networks fail.

The technology, for which KBS has applied for a patent, can “determine locations with centimeter-level precision,” the broadcaster said.

The agreement on Monday advances the partnership beyond a memorandum of understanding signed in January and moves the companies toward concrete business plans.

“[The deal] is an attempt to overcome the limits of the shrinking domestic broadcast advertising market by partnering with a U.S. terrestrial broadcaster to develop new revenue models,” KBS President Park Jang-beom said through the company's press release. “It will also help monetize KBS’s technology and content competitiveness in global markets while sharing our disaster broadcasting technology more widely.”

KBS recorded an operating loss of 99.6 billion won ($ 66.7 million) in 2025, its largest on record, as key revenue sources including licence fees, advertising and content sales all declined, according to an audit report published in February.

Sinclair is the second-largest operator of local television stations in the United States.

BY KIM JU-YEON [[email protected]]