Korean TV series fans in shock as Kodhit.com announces service cutback

Thai fans of South Korean TV series may now have to learn Korean after a popular website with Thai-language subtitles announced it is cutting its services because of copyright issues.

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Popular Korean TV series website warned of copyright violations

Online reporters

As of this morning, everything seemed normal on the popular Kodhit.com website. There were still dozens of episodes of popular Korean soap operas available to Thai viewers, their main attractions being Thai-language subtitles and high-definition screen resolution.

Apparently, however, the website, in operation for about 10 years, will be cutting back its services because of copyright issues.

The administrator of Kodhit.com said South Korean channels MBC and SBS had sent warnings of possible legal action over their series being shown on the website.

The announcement thanked Thai viewers for their support over the past decade and said the website would in future only give updates on the various TV series and be a forum for opinions.

The announcement drew expressions of great disappointment, but also understanding, with #kodhit tweets at the top on Twitter trends in Thailand on Thursday.

Kodhit continued to have movies on its site on Thursday, presumably from different sources.

Nusara Kanjanakul, legal director of the Intellectual Property Department said on Thursday that even without Thai subtitles, any party distributing a movie without authorisation was considered as violating copyright.

With subtitles, such a party could be viewed as modifying the content and distributing it without permission, she said.

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