6 October 2014: Kim Yu-mi doesn’t watch major television channels such as KBS, MBC or SBS as much as before. The 34-year-old Seoulite, who describes herself a “television show-gore”, instead watches cable networks. Kim says her television remote control has stayed on cable channels for a while now. “Cable networks seem to know exactly who their shows are aiming for. While major channels try to embrace every age group, cables are specialised on specific age bracket. To me, cable TV shows are much more interesting,” Kim says.Like Kim, more people in Korea are watch- ing television entertainment shows and dramas through cable networks than through the country’s major free-TV terrestrial channels.It is now a thing of past that KBS TV’s entertaining travel show, 1 Night, 2 Days, enjoyed more than 40% of viewership every Sunday and MBC TV’s long running variety show Infinite Challenge witnessed nearly 30% in ratings. Nowadays, only around 10% of viewers watch those shows.Cable channels have captured viewers’ attention with fresh ideas for dramas and entertainment programmes. Culture critic Bae Kook-nam says the growing popularity of cable networks’ shows and dramas comes from their economical decision-making structure.“Compared with major television channels, cable networks have more concise and fast decision making systems as they have more compact organisational structures,” Bae says, adding: “When a major channel plans to launch its new show, it needs to be approved by multiple layers of decision makers. But, cable channels don’t need that.”He also points out cable channels’ strength is their clear target audience and focus. “Cable channels don’t need to satisfy every age group as they don’t have sizable viewer bases like majors. This enables cable channels to deal with specific programmes that can only target particular age groups,” Bae says.Leading the cable boom is tvN, an affiliate cable network of Korean entertainment behemoth CJ E&M. The entertainment and drama network made its breakthrough last year with Reply 1994 and Grandpas Over Flowers, a reality-travel show that follows actors in their 70s around the world.Grandpas Over Flowers, lauded for shaping elderly viewers’ fantasies of global travel, chalked up average ratings of 6%-7%, com- mendable for a cable network.Stimulated by the success of Grandpas over Flowers, major channels have also cast older actors in travel shows.tvN’s innovation hasn’t stopped with Grandpas Over Flowers. The network is riding the franchise’s success with travel shows casting celebrities in different age groups.Sisters Over Flowers, featuring actresses between 40 and 60 years old, aired at the end of last year. The show travelled around Turkey and Croatia, and it drew immense popularity, mark- ing 7.5% average viewers rating.Youth Over Flowers premiered in August this year. The 10-episode show follows three male singer-songwriters in their 40s backpacking around South America. The first three episodes recorded average ratings of 5.8%, developing a bond with various age groups, including males in their 30s and 40s and females in their 40s and 50s.Reply 1994 was created in tune with the retro trend, which was ignited by the 2011 film, Sunny, and the 2012 film Architecture 101, focusing on the good old days. Mainly aiming for audiences in their 30s and 40s, the romance comedy drama, set in the year 1994, became a sensation last winter, revisiting the youth culture of the 1990s. The last episode of the drama drew an average rating of 11.9%, the highest in history of cable networks. By Baek Byung-yeul/ Korea TimesContentAsia Issue Four