From the School series to dramas like Chief Kim and Manhole, the KBS content has been completely removed for European viewers. Furthermore, previously free Kdramas – such as Cheer Up! – have not only been removed from EU, but they have also been made premium, now falling under the Viki Plus Pass.
This is something major that Viki shouldn’t have done behind closed doors.
Even if I wanted to pay extra, KOCOWA isn’t available in Europe.
Basically, Viki is now just a Chinese and Taiwanese site in Europe, with shorts, originals and the occasional 3rd party dramas filling in the Korean gap.
This is really unfortunate. Why isn’t anyone talking about this ?! Sure, you can use a VPN, but you still need a Plus Pass. Are you willing to make online payments over an unsafe connection ?!
If you look through the threads there are plenty of people who have talked about it. I think it’s just that it was a while ago so they’ve made their peace with it (mostly because they have no choice) and moved on. It’s not really fair to blame Viki because their hands are tied. Viki is lucky that Kocowa wanted to partner with them otherwise they would have lost plenty of subscribers. Kocowa has ushered in a whole new world. I hope you find a way (legal or not, up to you) to watch the dramas you want to watch.
I don’t understand why some people seem to always complaint about Chinese or Taiwanese dramas, before I even join Viki I watch Chinese Dramas for years on TV. They have excellent storyline and may have longer episodes. Personally I love all Asian Dramas and movies make no different to me if they are Korean, Chinese, Japanese or Taiwanese.
I learn some Mandarin and some Korean watching both. No matter where you live at in this World we need to be thankful for the Asian community sharing their dramas with us all, even if we live in Europe or where I live in the States. As for the Viki Plus Pass that can only be determine if one’s can afford it.
I have the Standard Pass, if I don’t see the benefit of a Pass Plus for me I will not upgrade if it will benefit me in the long run I will upgrade. Since the closing of Drama Fever I will wait to see if Viki or Kocowa or someone else will level up.
Leaving alone the discussion of whether Chinese/Taiwanese dramas are of the same quality as Korean ones (in my opinion they are emphatically not of the same quality), it is obvious that there is an imbalance in their relative quantity since August 2017, when Kocowa changed the rules of the game.
As adrianmorales rightly pointed out, since then, there are many more Chinese dramas than Korean ones coming to Viki - at least for the regular subscribers and of course the free subscribers.
Plus, even for those living where Kocowa is available and willing to pay for Plus, not all Kocowa content is available on Viki. Far from it - only a fraction of the dramas from the three main Korean channels. It sucks bigtime in every way.
And my complaint is Viki doesn’t get licensing for more Chinese dramas! This is the U.S. I’ve found lately KBS dramas aren’t as good as most of the Chinese dramas anyway, so I’m disappointed. I no longer bother to even request a Chinese drama. But I’ve heard China will add it’s own streaming service (Roku) next year. Viki seems to be adding more Japanese dramas now. After all, Rakuten is a Japanese company. The streaming world is changing too fast.
I think she’s referring to the dramas that come and go like the wind, as is often the case on Viki (I’m still upset about Lovely Horribly and Matrimonial Chaos). Many volunteers worked on dramas that simply vanished the next day… poof
Anyway, I keep making these posts simply because I wish RViki would end this segregation already. I’m not asking for new dramas or any special treatment. I’m simply asking them to open their doors to everyone.
I always hate it that drama’s I worked so hard on become restricted for me so I cannot enjoy my own hard work when I want to (re)watch it. I think Viki should come up with a solution for that as I also find it quite rude when it happens although we know it can happen. It’s like “thanks for your hard work but we don’t need you anymore so go away! shoo! shoo!”
They should have added an adblocker to your web browser, which can be done from the official stores that both Google and Microsoft operate. There’s nothing illegal about protecting yourself through addons and extensions. If you’re using Chrome, then go here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore
Type in adblocker. I’m currently using AdBlocker Ultimate, but there are many good ones.
If you’re using Edge, click on the 3 dots in the upper right corner and search for Extensions. You’ll be sent to the Windows Store, which requires a Microsoft account, though.
I can see you’ve never visited those sites yourself. Otherwise you would know that the first thing they ask in order to show you the videos is to disabe the adblocker: otherwise you can’t watch anything. It’s the same thing with Viki. When I first joined I watched videos with the adblocker on and it was paradise, but then it also enforced the “no adblocker” policy. By that time I had become QC, of course.
I really really cannot see how one can get a virus from those sites. It’s been years I’m a frequent visitor without any problems. Of course, I never click on the ads. And it is also true that I stick to two or three places that I know well. And I have set my browser to delete all history, cookies and cache every time I close it.
What I don’t understand is why those sites, which live out of their ads, would want to give you a virus and lose you as a user, when they want you to visit again and again and see their ads to make their money? But well, there may be some of them who do that.
My strict recommendation is nevereverdisableyour adblocker. Nevermind the ads. Those shady sites track personal information, too, like your location.
As far as Viki is concerned, I am a paid subscriber and I have been one since 2015. My posts may not show it, but I actually love Viki. I write all these things because I want everyone around the globe to enjoy Viki. One day, definitely !!
As I already said, if you don’t disable the adblocker you cannot watch. Even on Viki.
The personal information these sites get is obviously not good enough, because they routinely serve me ads about dating Russian girls, whereas I am a straight female, and about how to cure gout, of which I don’t suffer, since I’m a vegetarian. Google and Facebook do a much “better” job at that and I personally find them much more sinister. Facebook served me some ads which showed me without a doubt that they had monitored my Messenger conversations.
Well, Viki is one of the few sites in the world that legally offers Asian dramas. I think it’s a mater of common sense to allow ads if you don’t wish to contribute or subscribe.
Also, Yes, the stuff that Facebook stores on its users is insane.
I’ve found about this by accident because I wanted to binge watch a drama and I didn’t think other dramas that were available before would be restricted access too but oh well. I wanted to watch manhole and chief kim, I’m so sad but why didn’t they send a notification to all the european subscribers to let them know about this change? can we do something to know the reason why the did it?
edit: I went to the “chief kim” page and it isn’t restricted access like manhole, why didn’t they remove it like the other?
In all honesty, it costs a lot to licence dramas and maintain a streaming site. It costs just to have some books online… Imagine whole video series. Also, without KOCOWA, no doubt Viki would have either gone down just like DF or focused strictly on Chinese dramas.
I don’t mind paying for a service that I’m using. I just want that service to be fair.
It cost a lot but it yields high profits, too. Right now here in US, you can’t watch TV without cable. The prices for cable go up every year, and I know a lot of people who are eating less just to pay their cable bills. Especially the senior citizen in my complex go through so much struggle. i helped this couple and got their bill down but on a fixed income that’s a luxury. A luxury they need in their monotonous life bc they hardly can go out TV/cable is their leisure time.
I hope something is resolved soon, and you can enjoy watching the dramas you like.
