¡Ø From age of playing to age of viewing

It was the beginning of 1970, in the times of black and white TV, when Baduk was available to viewers for the first time. MBC started broadcasting matches between notable non-professional players for the first time, and Cho Nam-chul 9-dan became very popular as the first Baduk TV commentator ever.
Then the TV Baduk competition for professionals was created, and Baduk programs became enormously popular with Cho Chi-hoon's successes in Japan.
When there was a challenge match between Cho Chi-hoon 9-dan with Otake 9-dan of Japan, everybody was interested, even people who didn't know much about Baduk. Finally when Cho Chi-hoon triumphed and returned to Korea, there was a national level welcoming ceremony led by KBS, all of which was broadcasted.
These were the golden days of TV, and especially of TV Baduk programs.
But the national broadcasting system started to move away from Baduk by the end of 1980s. The scheduling of regular Baduk programs was changed to inconvenient times, annoying Baduk fans. And on occasions when games were broadcast live, the program was often cut off for regular programming without even announcing the results! The broadcasting companies put so many restrictions on Baduk programs that the TV commentators begged their viewers to call up the company and complain.
At this moment, the government passed legislation which completely transformed the broadcasting rules. This was good news for the Baduk community. Finally it was possible to have a channel which broadcasted only Baduk, which seemed too good to be true. Baduk TV was recognized by the Ministry of Information as an independent channel in October, 1994, and started its first programs on December 1, 1995, after more than a year of preparation.
Baduk TV has meaning beyond simply being a source of programs that Baduk fans can enjoy. It also provides invaluable records of important games and the players who participated in them. With these new records, everything becomes possible for Baduk, much of which would have been unimaginable before the foundation of Baduk TV.

-- by An Sung-moon, PD of Baduk TV