Trinh Thu Hang from MIC’s Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information (ABEI) presented a report on the current status of radio and television content management at a seminar held on October 13 in HCM City.

There are 35 pay-TV service providers, broadcasting 191 domestic and 45 foreign channels with VOD (video on demand) broadcasting time of 250,000 hours.

The pay-TV sector is increasingly co-distributing channel packages to increase subscriber revenue. The VOD content store is large with diverse genres. The percentage of new content is up to 50 percent. 

Service providers are providing more online VOD content (streaming), especially content about live sports tournaments, films aired at the same time in both Vietnam and the host countries, podcasts and others.

They work with radio and television stations to produce programs to diversify their content. Some service providers are willing to pay VND60-90 billion to buy the copyright of TV shows.

However, ABEI said that many problems still exist. Businesses that provide pay-TV service provide unlicensed channels, and provide movies with content violating Vietnamese maritime sovereignty, though they edited the products before broadcasting.

In many cases, they provide content which is unsuitable for children and does not follow Vietnamese customs and traditions. The labeling of films and content warnings are not shown on VOD as required by current regulations. 

Sometimes the classification shown on movies doesn’t coincide with the classification granted by state management agencies. Sports events are broadcast live regularly and ads about gambling still appear on screen.

Pay-TV stations don’t strictly follow procedures when applying for permission and certificates for movies to be broadcast, which results in tardiness in licensing. 

Meanwhile, some contracts are signed by unauthorized representatives based on expired legal provisions. They don’t set up records to supervise VOD content as requested, and don’t follow standard procedures for content editing and management.

There are no dossiers proving that VOD content has been edited and classified in accordance with current regulations, and movies are imported as cultural products not for business purposes to disseminate on OTT TVs serving paid subscribers.

Hang warned that businesses need to be cautious and check the content of movies thoroughly before importing them to avoid violations of maritime sovereignty.

Van Anh