| The purpose of this study is to assess the presence of foreign imports on South Korean television and to trace the trajectory of the country's dependency on imported television programs. To this end, special attention is given to the 25-year programming schedules of the Korean terrestrial networks.; After critically reviewing the relevant literature on international television program flow, eight hypotheses are derived to guide the inquiry of how changes in economic development, TV market growth, the introduction of a private terrestrial channel and cable television service, and government policy affected the percentage of broadcast program minutes originating from foreign countries in the Korean terrestrial networks.; The findings of the study validate the local content prevalence theory in the case of a country with a rapidly industrializing economy. Over the period of the past 25 years, between 1978 and 2002, the proportion of imported programs on the Korean terrestrial networks decreased from as high as 17 percent to as low as four percent. Such a decrease was particularly obvious in drama series. Economic development and television advertising market growth, both of which have combined to make more resources available to the broadcasters for domestic production, were negative determinants of imports. A proliferation of television channels due to the introduction of a multichannel television environment, on the other hand, was found to lead to an increase in the proportion of imported programs during the mid 1990s when the competitive pressure in the industry became intense. However, in the long run, the multichannelization and market liberalization contributed to promoting the competitiveness of locally produced programs as Korean products began to exhibit increased presence in the domestic market and abroad.; The findings indicate that it will take time and resources for a country to enter into the phase of local cultural ascendancy. The resilient power of local cultures defies the crude form of the cultural imperialism thesis. However, achieving the local program prevalence is a long-term process. The Korean case study lends support to a staged model of domestic production development. |
