KBS2

KBS 2TV is a South Korean free-to-air television channel launched on 1 December 1980 and owned by Korean Broadcasting System. In contrast to KBS1, the channel specializes primarily in entertainment.

History
KBS2 was created as an effect of the Policy for Merger and Abolition of the Press. The Tongyang Broadcasting Company, set up by Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul, had its license revoked and its operations were absorbed into the Korean Broadcasting System. At the time of the decision, TBC was Korea's second largest radio and television company. On November 30, 1980, TBC made its final broadcast and the following day, KBS2 signed on in Seoul and Busan, where TBC had its television stations. Some of TBC's programs were continued under KBS, including the KBS Music Festival, which started in 1965 on TBC.

Initially commercial-free, the two KBS networks reintroduced commercial advertising on March 7, 1981.

At the start of cable television networks in South Korea in the early 90s, KBS2 was included in the must-carry package, which initially excluded the commercial channels MBC and SBS.

Ratings soared for the final episode of First Love on April 20, 1997, at a record 65,8%.

Digital terrestrial broadcasts started in 2001, on LCN 7 at a national scale, analog broadcasts ended in 2012.

Programming
Dramas are a pillar of KBS2's schedule. In the last week of April 2024, out of ten dramas broadcast on linear (terrestrial and subscription) and OTT platforms, only two of KBS2's dramas were among the ten-most watched programs of the genre, with viewing figures lower than the ones produced by TVN and streaming services.

Kebit
Kebit (케빗) is the channel's mascot, introduced in the summer of 2016. Kebit represents "KBS's light" and is a space lifeform who descended to Earth.