Netflix’s new show, “Squid Game” is all the rage across the globe, and is raking in extremely high ratings as it goes forward on its way to becoming the most popular Netflix series of all time. However, not everyone seems happy with the same, as a South Korean internet service provider has apparently sued Netflix, owing to the increased network traffic due to the insane popularity of Squid Game.
Increased Maintenance Costs
The internet provider is demanding that Netflix pay for associated maintenance costs that the company is being forced to incur, thanks to the increase in network traffic as more and more people flock to watch the dystopian thriller. The online streaming platform’s CEO Ted Sarandos has confessed that Squid Game is well on its way to becoming its “biggest show ever.”
Following the suit by SK telecom (whose shares went up by over 1 percent late on Friday afternoon), Netflix’s shares fell slightly, becoming negative. A spokesperson for the streaming giant has said that the company will look into the claims that have been made by the telecom provider, even as they continue to hold discussions with the plaintiffs, in the hopes of “ensuring a seamless streaming experience” for their shared customers.
Significant Market Share, But Zero Fees Paid
Squid Game has already become Netflix’s most popular show, and is a KDrama (Korean drama)/Korean original series, following a group of people who play a series of games in order to win a truckload of money. The catch? All those who lose the games are killed.
Netflix says it has already created several thousands of job in South Korea, and it become the country’s second-largest data traffic generator, losing out only to Google’s YouTube. At the same time, neither of these two firms pay network usage fees, even as their competitors, like Apple, Amazon, and even Facebook, do pay the fees.
The strong growth in the Asia Pacific region are expected to have caused global downloads to hit an all-time high. The company is also facing a suit by SK Broadband, which demands that Netflix starts paying for using South Korea’s networks, which it had started accessing back in 2018, in order to send over files of large sizes to its users in Japan and South Korea.
Despite these allegations, Netflix does claim that it has had quite a huge economic impact on the country, contributing some 5.6 trillion won.
