Time Warner has become the first foreign media group to own a 100 percent stake of a South Korean broadcasting channel.
 
According to the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning on Wednesday, a Time Warner subsidiary, Turner Entertainment Networks Korea, recently bought 100 percent of Cartoon Network Korea.
 
Previously, Time Warner held 49 percent of the South Korean version of the channel due to local rules limiting the foreign ownership of local broadcasting channels to up to 49 percent. The other 51 percent was held by JBC, an affiliate of JoongAng Ilbo and a local partner with Time Warner.
 
The South Korea-United States Free Trade Agreement abolished the regulation on foreign ownership, except for terrestrial and news channels.
 
Time Warner owns CNN, a 24-hour news channel, and HBO, the biggest premium cable channel in the U.S.