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About TV License Fee

The Korean Broadcasting System is a public broadcaster which was established under Article 43 of the Broadcasting Act in order to fix a impartial and sound broadcasting culture and to efficiently implement the broadcasts for home and abroad.The role of a public broadcaster is to provide the audience with diverse and general broadcasting services for the public interest and welfare. It's essential for this goal to secure an independent stance free from the influence of the government and commercial pressures.

The most desirable financial source for a public broadcaster is the license fee. The audience share the financial burden as the owners of a public broadcaster by paying the license fee, while the public broadcaster assumes the responsibility of providing the audience with impartial and well-balanced programs.

Around 50 countries in the world including Britain, Germany, France and Japan have a public broadcasting company which is run by the license fee. The KBS is given the role of the key public broadcaster of the nation and guaranteed to receive the license fee for its running under the Broadcasting Act.

The amount of the fee is fixed after a deliberation and resolution passed by the KBS Board of Directors, and the subsequent approval of the National Assembly via the Korean Broadcasting Commission. The current license fee is 2,500 won a month, which is levied along with the electricity fee.

In a place of residence for exclusively residential purposes, a license fee for only one TV set per household shall be collected. In other cases, a license fee shall be collected according to the number of TV sets in possession.

The license fee collected from the audience is used for KBS's various TV and radio channels for the public interest KBS TV 1,2 · Satellite TV KBS World · KBS Radio 1,2 · KBS FM 1,2 · Radio for the physically disabled, 'The Voice of Love Broadcasting' Radio for the people from north of Korea International service provided in 11 different languages, 'Radio Korea International'. The money gathered from the audience is also used to Operate the KBS Symphony Orchestra and the KBS Traditional Music Orchestra, to host major national, cultural, and sports events, to support digital TV and radio broadcasting.

In order to support the Education Broadcasting System(EBS), an amount equivalent to 3/100 of the total license fee is allotted every year aside from the amount necessary to support a transmission of broadcasts conducted by the Education Broadcasting System.

The Statement of Accounts of KBS is approved by the National Assembly and assessed by a team of experts from inside and outside KBS every year, which is supposed to be made public through KBS and dailies by May of the following year. Also, KBS distributes the annual report which contains the yearly management data and achievements to a variety of organizations such as public offices, broadcasting companies, universities, NGOs, and libraries.