MBC문화방송

MBC (문화방송, the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation) is one of South Korea's three terrestrial networks, with KBS and SBS.⁴ It began in 1961 as a radio station, Korea's first non-governmental commercial broadcaster, and started television broadcasts on August 8, 1969.¹ Although it is financed by advertising, MBC is classed as a public broadcaster because its largest shareholder, with 70%, is a public body, the Foundation of Broadcast Culture. It is based in Digital Media City in Sangam-dong, Seoul's Mapo District; its flagship channel MBC TV is channel 11, and its terrestrial network has 17 regional stations.¹

MBC dramas hold nine of the 16 places in DabPop's ranking of the highest-rated K-dramas, including the top one: the final episode of the weekend drama You and I (그대 그리고 나) drew 66.9% in April 1998. What Is Love (사랑이 뭐길래, 1991–92) is third at 64.9%, and MBC's own classic-drama channel bills it as the Korean drama with the highest average rating of all time. Hur Jun (허준, 1999–2000) reached 63.5% and Dae Jang Geum (대장금, 2003–04) 57.8%.² Among webtoon adaptations, MBC's A Bona Fide Killer (유부녀 킬러, 2026) peaked at 10.7%.⁵

MBC and KBS ended exclusive contracts for actors and screenwriters in 1981.³ One episode of MBC's 2007 blockbuster The Legend (태왕사신기) was finished only after its scheduled air time, and MBC extended its live news to fill the gap.³ From May 10, 2017, MBC and SBS split drama episodes in two around a one-minute ad break, and in 2019 Netflix paid the whole ₩13 billion budget of MBC's Rookie Historian Goo Hae-ryung.⁴