KBS and MBC are pushing ahead with their ‘controversial programming’.’Casino’, which was released on OTT(online video service)two years ago, and ‘Dear.M’, which caused a stir due to the school violence controversy involving its lead actor, will be aired on MBC and KBS terrestrial channels respectively in July.

KBS will be rescheduling the youth romance drama ‘Dear.M’ set on a college campus as a regular Wednesday-Thursday drama for the first time on July 9th.’Dear.M’, which had completed all filming in 2021 but had its airing postponed indefinitely after the lead actress Park Hye-soo was embroiled in allegations of school violence, was first introduced in May of this year on KBS Joy, KBS affiliated cable channel, after four years.

Many drama fans are generally negative about the rescheduling of controversial works that were aired on cable channels to terrestrial broadcasting.When ‘Dear.M’ was aired on KBS Joy, it recorded a miserable 0% viewership rating and had no significant buzz, so the prevailing opinion among netizens is that “this rescheduling is even more incomprehensible.”

However, KBS, which pushed ahead with this arrangement, stated that it was a “decision made in consideration of the financial difficulties of the production company of ‘Dear.M.’” The broadcasting company explained that the production company suffered enormous financial damage due to the unexpected long-term broadcast delay caused by the controversy over the lead actor, and that the reorganization was decided in consideration of the difficulties of the production company that had originally contracted with KBS.

The case of MBC is quite different.’Casino’ starring Choi Min-sik, which MBC is set to air on July 4th, is a drama that was released as a ‘Disney+ original drama’ in 2023 and was a box office success along with rave reviews.

The process leading up to the programming decision was not smooth either.When MBC, which had aired Disney+ ‘Moving’ earlier this year, scheduled ‘Casino’ again, the drama department PDs strongly protested, asking, “Is MBC a channel specializing in OTT rebroadcasts?” and demanded that the company withdraw the programming.

Despite such internal opposition, MBC confirmed the lineup with the justification that it was “an attempt to expand the viewing experience by combining terrestrial and OTT content and providing it to viewers.” In addition, a broadcasting official explained, “While securing external content will increase the competitiveness of the channel, we can also expect to increase viewership ratings and increase advertising revenue with verified popular content.”


Reporter Seungmi smlee@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.