

StudioMonowa
StudioMonowa is the 2026 joint venture launched by CJ ENM, TBS, and U-NEXT to build a more integrated Korea-Japan premium-content pipeline. CJ ENM did not present it as a loose co-production pact. The company framed StudioMonowa as a value-chain business spanning planning, development, production, distribution, and IP expansion from day one.
That structure is the real story. CJ ENM brings global production know-how, TBS adds original-IP sourcing and broadcast leverage in Japan, and U-NEXT supplies platform reach. The partners explicitly tied the venture to an LTV-based model covering original-IP discovery, investment, drama production, global distribution, secondary works, and spin-off businesses. In other words, StudioMonowa is being built to control more of the story lifecycle instead of simply selling finished shows downstream.
For HITKULTR, that makes the company more than a symbolic Korea-Japan tie-up. It is a serious premium-IP bet from three players with enough scale to influence what cross-border Asian content looks like over the next few years.
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