14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung is none too happy about how, just the other day, hundreds of thousands of its Smart TVs got suddenly cut off from the Internet.
For those that missed the report yesterday (February 9, 2012), South Korean Internet provider KT decided to cut off web access to the apps loaded on Samsung Smart TVs.
The reason given was that those things constantly ate up too much bandwidth.
The estimates of the time suggested that the move had affected about 500,000 smart TVs.
A follow-up report on the matter says that the figure is not that high: 250,000 Smart TVs owners, instead of 500,000, have or will be affected.
Alas, this number is more than high enough to justify a judicial action on Samsung's part.
“A long-term infliction of such unfair treatment could incur substantial damages on our consumers, which is why we are planning to swiftly resolve the issue through a possible compensation lawsuit,” said a high-ranking official of Samsung.
KT's goal in all this is to persuade smart TV makers to share the costs of quality maintenance of the Internet, since those products tend to take up much of the network's bandwidth. Obviously, TV makers feel no obligation to do anything of the sort.
If things do go to court, Samsung will file for compensation of damages or an injunction, or both.
Moving on, Samsung might not be the only one that would respond aggressively to this imposed Internet blackout.
The Korea Telecommunications Commission, essentially the country's version of the US FCC (Federal Communications Commission), also believes that the move was inappropriate and against the law.
There is no clue what the penalty for something like this could be, besides monetary payments. Either way, people who bought Samsung smart TVs in the company's home market will have to wait it out, unless they have a contract with a different Internet provider.