Squid Game craze caused SK Broadband to sue Netflix, here's why
The South Korean internet service provider SK Broadband is suing Netflix after a traffic surge from Squid Game.
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| Streaming Squid Game on Netflix using Xiaomi Mi TV P1 |
Netflix is being asked to pay about KRW 27.2 billion (or around PHP 1.1B) in 2020 alone!
According to SK Broadband, it lodged a lawsuit against Netflix for it to pay the firm's dedicated line which the U.S. content firm started using in 2018. This is being used to deliver increasingly larger amounts of data-heavy, HD video content to Korean viewers from the servers in Japan and Hong Kong.
The popularity of the hit series "Squid Game" and other offerings made Netflix's status as South Korea's second-largest data traffic generator following Google's YouTube. However, these two content firms are not the only ones that don't pay network usage fees. According to SK, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook are paying the said fees.
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| Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, another recently popular Netflix production from Korea |
SK said that Netflix's data traffic jumped 24 times from May 2018 to 1.2 trillion bits of data processed per second as of September. This is being attributed to the success of some Netflix productions from Korea including "Squid Game" and "D.P."
Court records showed that Netflix has already appealed against the ruling, with fresh proceedings to start in late December.
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| In just five years, Netflix Korea was able to produce 80 shows and films! |
In a statement, Netflix said that it contributed to the creation of about 16,000 jobs in South Korea. From about 770 billion won (around PHP 33B) in investments, as well as an economic effect of about 5.6 trillion won (around PHP 240B).
In addition, we also know that Netflix has been able to be a platform for the spread of the new Hallyu culture through shows like Kingdom, Vincenzo, and even the recently premiered Squid Game! These have all led to increased sales and employment in linked industries in line with the globalization of the Korean Wave, said Netflix.
Did you know that Netflix has been paying a fee to United States broadband provider Comcast Corp for over seven years for faster streaming speeds?
Netflix also said it will review SK Broadband's claim. The firm will seek dialogue and explore ways in the meantime to work with SK Broadband to ensure customers are not affected.
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