Connected TV manufacturers face broadband crunch in Korea

Connected TV leaders Samsung and LG are facing a new challenge in their home market of Korea.

In a move that that could be a sign of things to come elsewhere, KT, the country’s leading broadband provider, has said it plans to limit access to some TV applications that are slowing down the speed of its broadband network. Kim Hyo-sil, executive vice-president of KT’s smart network policy task force, told a news conference that users will be restirced from using their TV’s web browser at the same time as they are using TV services including video-on-demand.

Kim said that internet TVs were increasing network traffic by up to 15 times that caused by traditional IPTV. KT estimates that there were about one million internet-connected TVs sold by the end of 2011, with about 100,000 heavy users.