MBC Announces Changes To Weekday Drama Scheduling

MBC will be making changes to its nightly dramas.

On May 8, MBC announced, “We held a strategic meeting regarding scheduling on May 2, as well as as another meeting of representatives in charge of scheduling for our main broadcasting channel and our affiliates on May 7. We have come to the final decision to move our weekday dramas from 10 p.m. KST to 9 p.m. KST.”

The new Wednesday-Thursday miniseries “Spring Night” (literal title) will be the first drama to be moved to 9 p.m. KST when it premieres on May 22. Next will be the Monday-Tuesday series “Partners for Justice 2,” which will begin airing in June and will also be moved up an hour to 9 p.m. KST. As MBC’s current weekend drama “Different Dreams” already airs on Saturday nights at 9 p.m. KST, this means that all MBC dramas will henceforth air in that time slot.

MBC is opening a new “9 p.m. KST drama generation” after changing the game to “10 p.m. KST weekday miniseries” in the 1980s with the 1980 drama “Son-in-Law” and the 1987 miniseries “Phoenix.”

Changes in drama scheduling usually reflect changes in work hours and viewers’ lifestyles. MBC stated, “According to data released by Shinhan Card in November 2018, the time in which people use debit or credit cards to pay for meals has changed from 8 to 9 p.m. KST in 2012 to 7 to 8 p.m. KST in 2018,” and “According to big data analyzed by KT, the average amount of time people worked every day from August 1 to September 16 in the Gwanghwamun area decreased by 55 minutes compared to the previous year.”

To follow the trend of people leaving work earlier, MBC has been making changes to their scheduling in 2019. From March, “News Desk” has been airing 30 minutes earlier from 7:30 p.m. KST, with an additional 30 minutes of news coverage. “My Little Television 2” has moved up an hour compared to the first season to air at 10 p.m. KST.

MBC stated, “Through this change, we will be airing our news show and dramas back to back, reinstating the traditional pattern of watching dramas right after the news, a pattern which was broken in 2012.” Currently, there are five different dramas airing on Mondays and Tuesdays at 10 p.m. KST and four dramas airing on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10 p.m. KST. MBC explained, “By having programs of the same genre airing in the same time slot, it restricts the viewers’ right to choose and does not allow for various programs to receive a fair review.”

Through this change, MBC aims to expand on the type of contents they can create and also provide more options for viewers.

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