It never really was just for soldiers, actually. It was also a way to promote the American way of life and advertise American cultural products to the Korean public.

The issue of copyright infringement in Korea is interesting, considering all the “Yale Hakwons” “University of Washington Institutes” and “UCLA clothing shops,”

I think you’re confusing trademark law with copyright law here… Heck, you could probably open a language school here in the States named after any of the Korean universities (I doubt they’re registered trademarks, or else famous enough to qualify for famous mark protection) without violating trademark law. Then again, you’d probably be violating one or more consumer protection/deceptive trade practice statutes by doing so, but that’s a different issue altogether.

A shitload. With Skylife (and possibly some cable systems) you can also watch CSI - Las Vegas, Miami, and NY - on AXN. (Three straight episodes on Sunday morning, repeated again in the evening!)

“Oh no, someone might learn some English on some broadcasting companies dime.”

Though it seemed to be losing popularity when I got here in ‘96, I know a number of Koreans who were regular watchers and listeners of AFKN TV and radio respectively, and their main motivation was improving their English. My wife still listens to 102.7 FM in the car, at least in part to brush up on vernacular English listening. It is/was a good service available to interested Koreans, in addition to Americans and other expats.

As for content, yeah AFN-K has gotten a bit boring lately. I remember the good old days of AFKN when it was a viable alternative to the crappy dramas and make celebrities suffer and embrass them shows on Korean TV. Now, with a few exceptions, I rarely turn on AFN-K.

Copyright is huge, for a long AFN Korea had a different schedule than the rest of AFN networks around the world simply because in Korea anyone had access to the channel, so if a network wanted to sell a series to Korea we couldn’t air it because they would not have a chance to make money off of the show to the Korean market as it’s already on and people can already watch it, even not being dubbed and with sub titles it’s still a big deal. So copyright isn’t about AFN making money, we don’t it’s about the net wirk (rightly) making money off the Korean market buying their program.

“AFN is all about greed and selling their cable packages”

We don’t sell cable packages, nor can you be denied access to AFN simply because you don’t choose to by a cable package. Cable packages are usually sold by third party companies working out of AAFES facilities. To say we’re all about greed is just ignorant, there are people working at all levels to ensure most of the people whinging on this board have access to the newest programs the same season they play in the states, we also expanded to 8 channels (most available on base only) from one which I am sure many like myself can remember.

The ads, AFKN ads will always be AFKN ads or AFN ads in general, we work(ed) with what we have and what guidelines are given at the local level. We never expected to make a Coppola production, nor something as sweeping as Dr Zhivago. They are basic and they fill a need since once again we don’t advertise and that’s how we get our programming for free or low low cost.

“It’s really ridiculous that the original philanthropic reason AFN exists is as a sort of thank you to those serving overseas”

It’s not a thank you, it’s a service we provide to give those serving overseas a chance to watch English language programming from their home country. There is nothing ridiculous about that, what is ridiculous is people who shouldn’t have access to this channel, but do for whatever reason bitching about what we provide, you’re known as our shadow audience and you should remain there.

The truth is this, like most things no one is ever happy, give them the Super Bowl but they bitch because they don’t get the Super Bowl Commericals, give them American Idol but bitch because they hear who wins on the news a few hours before we broadcast it at a normal hour. If things are that bad, imagine what you would have if we packed up and shut it all down.

The article says:

“Under the plan, Korean TV viewers will not be able to watch AFN-K starting early next year or in the second half of next year.”

Does this mean us waygooks will be excepted? Although there’s not a lot of stuff I watch on AFKN, it’s still better than butkis.