Streaming platform Tving announced a compensation package, including discount coupons, for users affected by a recent personal information breach. The photo shows Tving's office in Mapo District, western Seoul, on Sept. 7.NEWS1
Lee Chul-min
The author is the managing partner of VIG Partners.
On Oct. 6, Paramount completed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), approximately seven months after announcing the agreement in February. The all-cash transaction, valued at $31 per share, put the enterprise value, including debt, at approximately $110 billion. Paramount had previously announced plans to combine the two companies' streaming platforms, HBO Max and Paramount+, into a single service.
In Korea, however, a comparable consolidation has remained stalled for nearly three years. Tving, whose largest shareholder is CJ ENM, and Wavve, controlled by SK Square, signed a memorandum of understanding on a merger in late 2023. In June of last year, the Fair Trade Commission conditionally approved a business combination involving overlapping executive positions at the two companies, subject to corrective measures. That decision, however, did not constitute approval of the merger itself. The companies reportedly have yet to sign a definitive merger agreement.
The delay has largely been attributed to difficulties reaching an agreement with KT Studio Genie, which holds a 13.54 percent stake in Tving. When Tving absorbed KT's streaming service Seezn in 2022, the parties signed a shareholders' agreement granting KT certain rights. Those rights apparently need to be addressed before the proposed merger can proceed. However, because the agreement's detailed provisions have never been publicly disclosed, it remains unclear precisely which rights are preventing progress or how the companies might resolve their differences.
In July, KT said it had received no formal request concerning the merger. During its earnings announcement in August, CJ ENM merely stated that it intended to consult KT during the second half of the year. Since then, there have been no public indications of meaningful progress in negotiations between the two sides.
Meanwhile, Korea's streaming market has undergone significant changes. According to Mobile Index, Netflix recorded approximately 16.21 million monthly active users in August, followed by Coupang Play with 10.07 million, Tving with 8.15 million and Wavve with 4.05 million. Coupang Play surpassed the 10 million mark for the first time, demonstrating its rapid expansion in an increasingly competitive market.
Combining Tving's and Wavve's figures produces approximately 12.2 million monthly active users, exceeding Coupang Play's total. However, that simple calculation does not account for subscribers who use both services. Once overlapping users are excluded, the combined platform's actual audience could be considerably smaller than the headline figure suggests.
Tving has also faced another major setback. A personal information breach disclosed in early June reportedly affected an estimated 19.53 million individuals, according to the company's own calculations after excluding duplicate records. The scale of the incident has raised serious questions about the company's data protection practices and its response to affected users.
During a National Assembly audit earlier this month, lawmakers questioned whether Tving's proposed compensation package, worth approximately 20,000 won per person, would provide meaningful relief. An investigation by the Personal Information Protection Commission remains underway, leaving further uncertainty surrounding the company's handling of the breach and its potential consequences.
Certainly, Paramount's acquisition of WBD and the proposed Tving-Wavve merger differ substantially in scale, structure and commercial circumstances. The U.S. transaction involves a major corporate acquisition, while the Korean deal concerns consolidation between two domestic streaming platforms with their own shareholder arrangements and contractual complications.
Nevertheless, the contrast is striking. In the United States, a transaction valued at roughly $110 billion was completed within seven months of its announcement. In Korea, nearly three years have passed since Tving and Wavve signed their preliminary agreement, yet they have not even concluded a definitive contract.
Whatever the underlying reasons for the delay, subscribers who have been waiting for the two services to merge can hardly be blamed for growing frustrated with the prolonged uncertainty.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
