Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) is one of four major national South Korean television and radio networks. It is particularly famous for its dramas and comedies. Munhwa is the Korean word for "culture." Its flagship terrestrial television station is Channel 11 for VHF.

Once government-owned, the network is today 70% owned by the Foundation of Broadcast Culture. It receives no government subsidies and derives its income almost entirely from regular commercial advertising. Seven of its 19 local stations are independent affiliates.

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History
The origin of MBC was Busan Munhwa Bangsong (Busan Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation; Busan MBC), the first private broadcastiong corporation,established in 1959, Busan,South Korea. Busan MBC started its service with 1 kW AM radio and renowned for broadcasting the first CM Song in South Korea. Busan MBC launched MBC (in Seoul) in 1961, with a small AM radio broadcaster (Today, the best heavy stockholder of Busan MBC is MBC (in Seoul)). It began television broadcasting on August 8, 1969 and FM radio broadcasts in 1971.

A mob outraged by the official media's coverage of the progressing Gwangju massacre stormed MBC's building in Gwangju on the night of May 20, 1980. Unable to operate the broadcasting equipment, they set it afire. Partly to address such concerns in light of the country's 1987 democratic reforms, the National Assembly established the Foundation for Broadcast Culture on December 26, 1988, to insulate MBC from political influence.

Since then, the network has promoted its independence and declared its mission to be one of public service and the promotion of Korean culture. Since 1997 it has refused to broadcast music with all-English language lyrics. In 2001 it proclaimed its support for President Kim Dae-jung's New Year's Day call for reform of the mass media, which was chiefly aimed at the national daily newspapers.

Also in 2001, MBC launched satellite television and cable television broadcasting. As part of this expansion it created MBC America, a subsidiary based in Los Angeles, California, USA to distribute its programming throughout The Americas. --wikipedia.org

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Websites:
Official Homepage (Korean)
Official Infopage (English)
MBC News ('Imnews') Homepage (Korean)
MBC Overseas
MBC Global Media English language homepage
MBC Production official site in VHS & DVD Video Shopping mall from MBC
MBC Youth Football Association (English) Korea's Child soccer associates from MBC(recently changed its name)