Korea’s Streaming Rivals, Tving and Wavve, in Merger Talks

variety.com:

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief South Korea’s two largest streaming services, Tving and Wave, are in advanced merger talks, according to Korean financial news media.

The move appears intended to strengthen the home-grown platforms, which currently trail streaming market leader Netflix. The Korean Economic Daily reported Wednesday that CJ ENM, the largest shareholder in TVing, and SK Square, the biggest backer of Wavve, could strike an agreement as early as next week.

The paper reports that CJ ENM would emerge as the majority owner of a merged streaming service. Both companies confirmed that they are in negotiations, but they said that an agreement has not yet been reached and that all options remain open. “Tving and Wavve are currently discussing different cooperative measures that would help strengthen their competitiveness as OTT (streaming service) operators, including strategic alliances,” a CJ ENM spokesman told Variety by email.

The Korean streaming market is one of the most competitive in the world, boasting significantly-embedded international players, a handful of aggressive local competitors, a wealthy population of some 50 million, world class fixed-line and mobile internet connections as well as chip-makers and phone giant Samsung.