The Korea Broadcasting Performance Rights Association has revealed that KBS has not Paid rebroadcasting fees to the actors in dramas of 2022 such as “Crazy Love,” “Jinxed At First,” “If You Wish Upon Me” and “Curtain Call.”
On March 16, the Korea Broadcasting Performance Rights Association officially stated that KBS is overusing its power as they have not paid the copyright fee for the purchase of broadcasting rights yet as well as not paid 1 billion won ($700,000) for the use of the four programs and have not paid replay fees to the actors.
Earlier, a media outlet reported that KBS did not pay actors to rerun some dramas aired last year, referring to a total of four works, including “Crazy Love,” “Jinxed At First,” “If You Wish Upon Me” and “Curtain Call.” All of them were produced by independent external production companies on their own and only signed broadcasting rights contracts with KBS.
KBS later announced, “We are not saying that we will not pay the rebroadcasting fee for the drama purchased by KBS. It is a new type of broadcasting for KBS to broadcast the drama by purchasing only the broadcast rights, and we have put the payment on hold because there is no basis for the existing agreement with KBS and Korea Broadcasting Performance Rights Association. In the event of such a new type of situation, the basis for payment has been prepared through mutual consultation between KBS and the Korea Broadcasting Performance Rights Association agreement in the past. As a result, KBS has been continuously negotiating on the above since August last year, but the Korea Broadcasting Performance Rights Association cooperation has not yet completed the negotiations due to an indifferent response to the negotiations.”
The following is the full official position of the Korea Broadcasting Performance Rights Association:
The Korea Broadcasting Performance Rights Association, a corporation, officially expresses its position on KBS’s unpaid replay fee as follows.
■ It is a fact that KBS did not pay the copyright fee for the purchase of broadcasting rights.
– KBS does not pay 1 billion won ($762,000) for the four programs. KBS makes use of it but when it’s about copyright fees, they act like they don’t know about it. It’s simply the showcase of the overuse of power.
– KBS claims that there is no basis for payment, saying that the purchase of broadcasting rights is a ‘new type of broadcasting.’ But this is wrong. Broadcasting rights purchases have existed for 20 years. This corresponds to outsourced production under the Broadcasting Act, and the existing agreement between the association and the broadcaster includes outsourced production programs for settlement. Until last year, KBS paid the user fee normally.
– KBS said they cannot pay copyright fees to comply with laws and regulations. This is also a false claim. The ‘Standard Agreement for Purchase of Broadcasting Rights’ (notice of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), which KBS should use to purchase broadcasting rights from production companies, states that ‘the copyright fee for performers shall be paid by broadcasters for the convenience of distribution of profits.’ In addition, the Broadcasting Act imposes an obligation on KBS to use the Standard Contract for Purchase of Broadcasting Rights in the Notice on the Organization of Broadcasting Programs, etc. (Korea Communications Commission). Then, according to KBS’s claim, are all the other terrestrial broadcasters that trust the association and normally pay actors for copyright use violating rules and regulations?
■ It is a pathetic and petty excuse to say that the association was too lazy so they couldn’t pay the fee.
– The association has been asking KBS to pay the replay fee through several negotiations since it was notified in July last year that the replay fee cannot be paid. However, KBS refused to pay for the rerun, claiming there was a new type of situation.
– Under copyright law, the actor’s rights are transferred to the video producer. This gave preferential treatment to video producers so that the capital invested in video production could be recovered smoothly. However, the law does not stipulate compensation for the rights taken away. KBS is taking advantage of this blind spot in the law.
■ The association is committed to protecting the rights of its members.
– The association, which criticized KBS for being lazy, has been working hard for decades to revise the copyright law’s video copyright exception to secure and strengthen its members’ rights even under the weak protection of the copyright law and is still working hard by holding a public hearing at the National Assembly in December last year.
■ The association feels devastated by KBS’s response distorting the nature of the issue.
– The association has been with KBS in good faith and sincerity. However, KBS, a public broadcaster operated by the nation’s license fee, does not pay the actors the copyright fees they deserve, and when the facts are revealed, they pass the responsibility to the association and gloss over the facts. The association is devastated by this.
– The association strongly regrets KBS’s official position and hopes that the public broadcaster KBS will regain its responsible position.
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