Thesis abstract:

«p»This study explores how the television production industry has been transformed in the context of paradigm shift from broadcasting to digital streaming. Focusing on South Korea (hereafter Korea) as an example, there are two main goals to this research. First, this study aims to investigate how incumbent production companies are responding to the fast growth of both global and local video streamers and their disruption in Korean television dramas (K-drama) production. Second, as most of the local content policies in Korea have been devised in the broadcasting era to control broadcast and pay-tv companies, this study aims to examine how the state regulators want to restructure the television production industry incorporating the video streamers' transformative forces of digitalization and transnationalization. Two primary methods are used; document analysis and semi-structured in-depth interviews with the incumbent production companies including broadcasters’ in-house productions, independent production companies, production studios, media entertainment companies engaged in K-drama production and the regulators. Considering that K-drama shows a strong regional appeal in the global video market, this study will offer a deep insight into understanding the current status of the production industry in Korea as a case study. It will aid the industry and academia in providing a holistic view of the complex interplay between production companies and video streamers who provide original content and programming. This timely research project will ultimately contribute to the limited body of knowledge on production research in media industry studies and help discern new norms of K-drama production in the streaming era. «/p»