On Thursday, South Korea's antitrust authority revealed that Google is set to introduce a YouTube Premium Lite subscription service in South Korea. This new offering will not include the music streaming feature. The move comes as a response to an investigation by the South Korean Fair Trade Commission (FTC) into Google's practice of bundling YouTube Music with YouTube Premium, a tactic deemed to breach fair trade regulations. This particular service represents one of the remedial actions put forth by Google and has received the green light from the FTC.

YouTube Premium Lite will provide a subscription service focused solely on videos. It will encompass features like ad-free viewing, background playback, and the ability to watch videos offline. Monthly subscription fees are projected to be 8,500 won (roughly $5.80) for Android and web users, and 10,900 won for those using iOS. To put this into perspective, a standard YouTube Premium subscription costs 14,900 won per month, while YouTube Music alone is priced at 11,990 won per month.

Google's latest service is already accessible in 19 other nations. In South Korea, it will be launched at the most affordable rate, a pricing strategy that will be in effect for at least one year. Even in the event of price adjustments, the cost will stay lower than that in major international markets for a period of four years. Google is mandated to launch YouTube Premium Lite within 90 days of receiving the approval decision.