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Striking gold: Striker Nguyen Ngoc Thanh (right) of Hai Phong takes a shot during a V-League match against Binh Duong. The V-League TV rights are worth US$300,000 per year. — VNA/VNS Photo Quoc Khanh |
HA NOI — The Viet Nam Football Federation (VFF) officially announced a 20-year deal for the V-League television rights with cable TV provider Audio Vision Global (AVG) last weekend worth VND6 billion (nearly US$300,000) per year.
The national football championship has been a money-spinner for the VFF since 2004, when Viet Nam Television paid VND4 billion ($200,000) to broadcast the V-League.
AVG, which is licensed to operate a satellite and digital television service, plans to officially launch a 70-channel TV package late next year.
The cable TV provider, a member of the An Vien Group, was established in 2008 with a charter capital of VND1,800 billion ($85 million).
It's the first ever TV copyright to be signed between a private television company and a sports federation in Viet Nam.
AVG also signed a 20-year TV rights contract with the Viet Nam Athletics Federation (VAF) last week.
However, a VAF representative refused to declare how much the deal was worth, but said AVG would broadcast five to seven national tournaments each year.
The deals will help publicise major sporting events as well as provide a long-term revenue stream for the federations.
The Viet Nam Basketball Federation (VBF) will also review the sale of television rights for its domestic top-flight championship next year.
"We have yet to finalise negotiations but I hope the VBF will sign a contract soon," said VBF's general secretary Nguyen Quoc Quan.
"The contract will help promote the national basketball championship as it rarely broadcast at the moment. This will be a new stage for not only basketball, but other sports in the future," he said.
Vice chairman of the Viet Nam Aquatic Sports Association Xuan Gu said he hopes swimming tournaments would be televised regularly from next year with a deal likely to be agreed between the association and AVG soon.
Meanwhile, representatives from the table tennis and cycling federations said they had received offers from AVG, but were considering the financial impacts of the long-term contract in the event of an economic crisis.
"We should consider renegotiating the deal every five years to avoid potential losses. The federation needs a prolonged partnership with a television company to promote sporting activities and develop the sport," said Viet Nam Table Tennis Federation's general secretary Pham Duc Thanh.
AVG's chairman Pham Nhat Vu said the company also reserves the right to renegotiate the contract every five years.
"We want to popularise sport in our entertainment programmes throughout the country. However, we need time to enlarge our market share because we are newcomers," Vu told a press conference in Ha Noi.
AVG will not be ready to begin broadcasting in time for the new V-League season that kicks off next month, and is planning to sell the rights for the opening games to other broadcasters.
Under the deal, the VFF and its sponsors take 50 per cent of the fees, while the two participating teams share the remainder. The host team takes 35 per cent and the visiting team, 15 per cent.
At the press conference last week, AVG confirmed that they will provide subscribers with good programming at competitive prices in comparison to other TV stations.
In July, Kplus (known as K+), a cable TV provider, won a $10 million contract for the exclusive rights to broadcast the English Premier League for three years.
K+ then announced a monthly fee of VND250,000 ($12), which covers the English Premier League, Spain's La Liga and Italy's Serie A.
The figure is four times the previous average monthly fee that K+ charged their subscribers before.
Subscribers of the popular VTV cable and VTC pay a monthly fee of VND65,000 ($3) and VND90,000 ($4.3) respectively.
However, K+ and television stations such as VTV and VTC failed to reach a deal over broadcasting rights and millions of people are now unable to watch the Premier League's Super Sunday matches.
AVG's chairman reassured that the same problem won't happen with the V-League. — VNS
