VietNamNet Bridge - The notion of paying to watch a European football match continues to jangle Vietnamese opinion. However ‘normal’ pay-to-watch sporting events may now be in other countries, many Vietnamese consider it unfair that people with average incomes should be priced out of the nation’s favorite pastime.  

In this report, VietNamNet Bridge excerpts Tuoi Tre interviews with the director of VSTV, the TV company that bought the right to broadcast the elite European matches and an official from the Competition Control Agency.

VSTV states its case

Acknowledging public discontent with the idea of paying high fees to watch some European football events, Cao Van Liet, director of VSTV, confirmed that K+, the new pay-to-see cable channel, can’t cut its prices but it would include some matches in its lower-cost packages.

Liet said that “If it’s determined that VSTV has violated the Competition Law, we will adjust our plan. However, it is very normal in many countries for a TV channel to buy the broadcast rightd to an event to serve the audience and collect fees.”

“We have compared VSTV’s subscription charges to countries comparable to Vietnam. In Indonesia, fans pay about $23 a month to watch football events like the English Premier League. Similar programming in Thailand costs $49. VSTV’s highest service package costs only $13 per month.”

Tuoi Tre: VSTV is a unit of the State network, VTV. Why didn’t you buy the broadcast rights directly from, for example, the English Premier League? Instead, you’ve contracted with a secondary distributor in Singapore, MP & Silva. You’ve agreed to a high price and then propose to pass that on to your viewers.

VSTV’s Cao Van Liet: VSTV has just operated for seven months.  Before that, our French partner (Canal+) urged some Vietnamese TV broadcasters to participate in the tender for the English Premier League matches but there was no feedback from Vietnamese partners.

MP & Silva won the tender and has resold rights to Vietnam at very high prices. VSTV and other TV stations have had to deal with MP&Silva so the prices are much higher than before.

Tuoi Tre: If you were an ordinary viewer, wouldn’t you be angry about this? It’s not the fans’ fault that you had to pay more money just because this Singapore firm got an exclusive right to market broadcast rights, is it?

VSTV’s Liet: Many people said that our monthly charges of 250,000 dong ($13) are high, but as a company that operates under the Enterprise Law, we can’t do business at a loss. Some pay TV channels still violate the copyright rules so their prices are cheaper.  However, we absolutely obey the copyright law.

We think that VSTV’s charges are reasonable. VSTV is responsible to its own customers, not every viewer.  Other cable TV channels also have to take responsibility to their customers.

Tuoi Tre: What does K+ mean when it says it will share the broadcast right of European football matches with other cable networks so their subscribers will not have to change networks?

Liet: In principle, we are always willing to share our broadcast rights with other broadcasters. We have the right to allow others to re-broadcast K+ channel with appropriate conditions. We have negotiated with SCTV, HTVC (HCM City Cable TV) and VCTV.

We don’t want to share the broadcast right because it will affect our profit. However, we are ready to allow others to re-broadcast K+. Certainly, the price and profit must be appropriate.

Tuoi Tre: Considering the average income here, the K+ subscription fee is still high. Will K+ reduce the charge or the price of its decoders?

Liet:  We don’t plan to reduce our listed prices. However, VSTV often offers discounts, for example giving ‘bonus’ subscription months or reducing the prices of our decoders. Our charges may be fairly high, but we commit to supplying viewers with good, advertisement-free services. We will hold our charges steady.

Tuoi Tre: Still, doesn’t that mean that to watch European football events, viewers will have to pay K+ 250,000 dong a month?

Liet: We currently have three service packs. The cheapest is 330,000 dong for six months; another costs 630,000 dong for six months and the premium package costs 1.53 million dong for six months.

The public may be displeased because they can only watch football if they buy the premium package. Thus we have asked the Ministry of Information and Communications’ permission to set up K+2, a variant which will be available in the pack worth 630,000 dong/six months and K+3, to be included in the cheapest service pack.

When several football matches are broadcast at the same time, the top match will be aired on K+1 (the most expensive channel), the less ‘interesting’ match on K+2 and the rest on K+3.

Actually, what’s considered interesting or not depends on the viewer. 

Is VSTV violating competition rules?

Talking with Tuoi Tre, Vu Ba Phu, vice head of the Trade Ministry’s Competition Control Agency said that there is no sign of monopolistic behavior in the fact that TV channels raced to buy broadcast rights for football events at a high price and then raised subscription charges,

Phu said that it is normal for a TV channel to buy the right to broadcast programs and then collect a fee. It is also normal to have a business like MP & Silva that owns exclusive distribution rights in Vietnam.

Phu emphasized that the Competition Control Agency had discussed the situation with American experts and they said that this is absolutely normal. However, if two TV broadcasters were to join hands to control the market and raise prices, that would be a violation of the Competition Law.

The cost of broadcast rights is determined by the market. It can push up cable subscription fees. However, the pay-TV channels should be considered as luxury products. People who can afford to subscribe can do so; others must accept that they’ve been priced out of the market.

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