VietNamNet Bridge - On October 8, the Vietnam Television (VTV) sent a dispatch to the Ministry of Information and Communications, VTC and some paid-TV service providers on the purchase of the British Premier League TV right in the next three seasons (2013-2016).

VTV said the policy of the Ministry of Information and Communications in appointing a representative to negotiate the Premier League broadcasting right then sharing it to other broadcasters is reasonable because it will help save money for local broadcasters.

According to VTV, the paid-TV service providers outside VTV’s system who want to have the Premier League TV right for the upcoming three seasons should assign the Association of Vietnam Paid-TV Service Providers as their representative for negotiation. October 11 was the deadline for registration of the Premier League TV right auction.
 
In its dispatch, VTV showed its consent with the Ministry of Information and Communications on harmonizing the interests among local parties to not waste foreign currency when negotiating the Premier League broadcasting right.

VTV said that the negotiation for the Premier League copyright must be implemented early. For example, to get the TV right of EURO 2012, in 2010 VTV asked for the Ministry of Information & Communications’ permission to negotiate and purchase the right, then sharing it to other broadcasters.

For the above reasons, VTV said that it is late to assign someone to auction for the Premier League TV right for 2013-2016 now because the deadline was October 11.
 
Actually, VTV assigned a prestigious firm to carry out this task from June 2012 and it also directed its paid-TV service providers to change plans in case the price for the Premier League TV right is too high.

"If other paid-TV service providers (in addition to the three firms of VTV) also want to get the Premier League TV right, they should take initiative and assign the Association of Vietnamese Paid-TV Service Providers as their negotiator," the dispatch said.

Nguyen Ha Nam, VTV spokesman, said: "If VTV gets the Premier League TV right, we are ready to share it with local partners if we find a common voice. However, our top priority at this moment is to successfully auction before thinking of other things."

Nam Nguyen