MIC on July 24 met with representatives of the five largest TV manufacturers and importers in Vietnam, Sony, Samsung, LG, TCL and Casper, to discuss the installation of VTVGo on smart TVs produced, imported and distributed in Vietnam.

Nguyen Ha Yen, deputy head of the MIC’s Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information (ABEI), said MIC has worked with the national television VTV to develop VTVGo from a national television app into a national digital television platform.

With about 45 million downloads, VTVGo has served people since late 2022. On VTVGo, there are seven essential central and 31 local TV channels. It is expected that by the end of December 31, 2023, all 63 local televisions will be present on VTVGo.

VTVGo is one of the important authentic information channels that provide official information to people for free. MIC’s goal in 2023 is to have VTVGo present on all TVs manufactured in, distributed by, and imported to Vietnam.

“MIC wants the national digital TV platform to appear on the main screen and control of the TVs,” he said.  

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam requested TV manufacturers to install VTVGo on their smart TVs.

According to Lam, many buttons on the remote control are useless. The majority of families use two controls when watching TVs. In many cases, the TV control is only used to choose an HDMI portal to access the set-top box, and after that, users switch to use the control from pay-TV service providers.

“This is an opportunity for us to integrate everything into one control. TV manufacturers will benefit from optimizing users’ experience, while users will benefit when they have only one control to access different service providers. The TV manufacturers have a chance to obtain consensus from state management agencies and the market,” Lam said. 

He stressed that it is time to stop protection of foreign cross-border apps, while domestic apps face difficulties accessing users. This also applies to mobile phones.

MIC hopes TV manufacturers and VTV will integrate VTVGo into smart TVs in 2024 and implement the process in two stages.

At the working session, representatives of all five large manufacturers agreed with MIC on integrating VTVGo into TVs.

Casper has discussed with ABEI the move towards compliance with the government and MIC’s policy.

“The details about the roadmap will be discussed later, but the policy and orientation are all very clear,” said Mai The Trung from Casper Vietnam.

Nguyen Huyen My, marketing director of Samsung, said the proposals by MIC can be implemented technically. Samsung has asked MIC to give legal support so that the enterprise can report to the holding company in South Korea and build a roadmap for the plan.

Regarding the software, LG is working to put VTVGo into LG’s app store. LG may also use a software upgrade version to pre-install the VTVGo app on existing TV devices

Meanwhile, Nguyen Thuy Anh Thu from Sony Electronics Vietnam, said the enterprise has been aware of the MIC’s orientation and has committed to implement the policy.

TCL Vietnam’s Nguyen Cao Bao said that his firm is ready to cooperate with VTVGo.

My of Samsung Vietnam affirmed that Samsung agreed with MIC that it is necessary to support Vietnam’s digital TV platforms. VTVGo has been in Samsung TV’s app store for a long time. Before VTVGo, many domestic content developers had proposed cooperation with Samsung, including VieOn, FPT Play, TV360 of Viettel and My VNPT of VNPT (Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group).

Pham Hoang Long from LG Electronics Vietnam also said that LG is ready to cooperate with VTV.

Le My