[속보] 법원, JTBC 회생절차 개시 결정…내년 1월까지 회생안 제출해야

The Seoul Business Court has decided to initiate the process for the corporate rescue of JTBC, a multimedia network. On January 28th at 10:00 AM, the Business Court's Insolvency Division 2 (Judge Jang Jun-young) concluded the 'Autonomous Structure Adjustment Support (AR) program' after reviewing the responses from bondholders and restructuring the debt structure.

Prior to this, JTBC had applied for an autonomous structure adjustment support process to the court in order to restructure its debts independently. The court explained that the reasons for initiating the process included the rapid growth of OTT platforms post-COVID-19, continuously increasing production costs, a surge in digital advertising markets, a decrease in television viewership, a funding shortage due to Olympic broadcast rights, and a liquidity crisis across the Group.

While the court will not appoint a new board of management, it may replace the current management if any issues arise. The next steps involve JTBC submitting a list of major bondholders, followed by a bond declaration period ending in November. The court has appointed accounting firm Han Young Accounting as the bond inquiry committee, which will submit its report by December 8th.

JTBC must submit its rescue plan by January 29th, 2024. If approved, the company will proceed with debt restructuring. JTBC announced that it will start the sale process to repay its debts after the rescue plan is adopted, effective from January 29th, 2024. The network declared bankruptcy on June 12th after being unable to repay a total of 206 billion won in short-term loans.