Vice Chairman Ha Hyun-hoe of LG Uplus.

An ad for Netflix contents on IPTV run by LG Uplus. (Photos: LG Uplus)

LG Uplus signed a special tie-up with Netflix, the largest global streaming service company in the world, to take care of streaming its content in Korea.

LG Uplus is also moving to introduce the online streaming TV service Netflix on its IPTV in a bid to differentiate its content from competitors. LG Uplus will install the Netflix service in the set top box inside its IPTV to boost the accessibility to attract the viewers.

LG Uplus kicked off the Netflix service from its IPTV Uplus from Nov. 16, the telecom company said on Nov. 14 to become the only and the first company in Korea to launch the Netflix service in Korea.

The telecom company plans to upgrade the set top boxes in use now without exchanging with the new ones and they will give to the customers a new remote control with additional buttons to operate the new remote control.

Uplus TV customers can use the Netflix contents on IPTV like they have been using the existing contents. They will be able to watch such content as the “House of Cards” and other Netflix original contents, along with domestic movies and documentary films on IPTV.

Netflix has already been supplying its contents through D’Live and CJ Hello TV and other cable TVs, all only on cable TVs which has been the reason why those who want to watch the contents have to be members and pay for them.

But LG Uplus only requires simple registration for its members to be able to use the Netflix contents through its IPTV.

The customers who become the members of the Uplus TV high-class type and VOD high class pay system, they will be allowed to use Netflix contents for free for three months. The company will launch the pay system for Netflix service later.

The telecom company will launch VOD, Netflix, Children’s Country, and TV app news all at the same time next month.

Song Ku-young managing director of the Home Media Section, the company wants to expand the selection range for its customers by signing the tie-up with Netflix.

Netflix has 137 million paying customers in some 190 countries around the world and it wants to explore the Korean market for its products through a tie-up with LG Uplus, hoping that the number of subscribers for its products would increase rapidly.

Netflix has been increasing its original contents at the Korean market including “Okja” directed by Director Bong Jun-ho, the “Criminal Its Me” and “YG Electronics” this year. LG Uplus is taking a series of aggressive strategies for its internet protocol television (IPTV) business in a bid to find a new revenue source and expand its market share amid the rapid saturation of the telecom market.

The nation’s smallest mobile carrier, after SK Telecom and KT, has been posting the fastest growth in the IPTV market with its subscribers tallied at 3.79 million as of June, a 14.5 percent jump from a year ago.

During the same period, SK Broadband, an internet service subsidiary of SK Telecom, saw a 9.1 percent increase in the number of its IPTV subscribers, while KT saw only a 5.4 percent increase.

With market observers expecting LG Uplus to achieve 4 million subscribers within the year, the company announced Wednesday that it has mounted Google’s AI voice assistant, dubbed Google Assistant, on the Uplus UHD set-top box.

The new feature enables users to easily use Google’s major services such as YouTube, Google Photo, Google Search and Google Translation through voice command. The firm said the most useful function would be a search in YouTube, powered by natural language processing technology.

Through Google Assistant, “We have prepared an environment in which we can offer a distinguished AI-based service on our IPTV.” said Won Kang-hoon who is in charge of IPTV affiliated services at LG Uplus. He noted that the firm will continue to enhance cooperation with Google.