Samsung TV Plus to Live-Stream KCON LA 2026 Across 17 Countries
The subscription-free service will broadcast the world's largest K-pop festival from August 14 to 16.
Samsung Electronics will live-stream KCON LA 2026, the world's largest K-pop festival, via its subscription-free Samsung TV Plus service. The broadcast brings the high-energy event to global fans unable to attend the festival in person.
Running from August 14 through August 16, 2026, the stream provides coverage of performances from both the M COUNTDOWN STAGE and the TOYOTA MUSIC DEN STAGE. The content will be delivered through the CJ ENM K-POP channel and will be available for free in 17 countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, U.K., and U.S.
The Expansion of K-Culture
KCON LA is a cornerstone of the annual K-culture calendar, typically hosted at the Los Angeles Convention Center and the Crypto.com Arena. To support this content, Samsung has partnered with CJ ENM to offer a specialized suite of Korean-themed channels, including K-Reality and K-Stories, alongside the K-POP channel. This integration is part of a broader effort to capitalize on the "Hallyu" or Korean Wave, which has seen Korean entertainment become a dominant force in global pop culture.
According to Gwiho Lee, Executive Vice President and Deputy Head of Service Business Team for Visual Display at Samsung Electronics, audiences are actively seeking more ways to experience the content they love as Korean entertainment defines global culture.
Strategic Ecosystem Integration
This partnership highlights a strategic intersection between hardware sales and content distribution. Samsung TV Plus is integrated directly into the company's ecosystem, including Galaxy devices, Smart Monitors, Family Hubs, and Smart TVs. By providing high-demand, free content, Samsung incentivizes users to remain within its hardware and software environment, leveraging the popularity of K-pop to drive engagement across its SmartThings and device platforms.
The scale of the platform is significant; Samsung reports that Samsung TV Plus currently serves more than 100 million monthly active users and hosts nearly 5,000 ad-supported linear channels across 30 different countries.
Future Outlook
As Samsung continues to expand its ad-supported streaming footprint, the KCON broadcast serves as a test case for using niche, high-passion global fandoms to increase hardware adoption in key international markets. While the August broadcast is confirmed, the company is expected to continue expanding its partnership with CJ ENM to include more diverse Korean cultural programming across its global user base.