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Korean Television Big on Reality

As pointed out by The Wall Street Journal's Korea RealTime blog, Korean television networks have jumped on the reality TV bandwagon "with gusto".

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"Superstar K2", a Korean version of "American Idol", found great success on Mnet Korea, a cable music channel. And now network MBC has started broadcasting "Star Audition", another singing competition with applications also submitted via Internet as well as at auditions as far afield as the U.S., China and Japan.

The newspaper reports: "Another popular MBC entertainment show, called 'On Sunday, Sunday Night', is planning two reality-competition segments. One is for professional singers, in which an audience of 1,000 people will decide who should stay and who should be eliminated. The second is a contest to become a TV announcer (known as a presenter or anchor in other countries). The winner would be offered a job at MBC".

Another network, SBS, is starting up "Audition of Miracle" for actors, while cable channel tvN plans to air "Korea's Got Talent".

And, the prizes are getting bigger, too. Korea RealTime points out: "Mnet Korea says that when 'Superstar K3′ comes along, they will raise the top prize to 500 million won, about $450,000, including money to produce an album".

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