Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung yesterday (Jan 12) arbitrated on behalf of concerned parties to help settle a dispute over television broadcasting rights to resolve the matter affecting television viewership.
Replying to a report signed by Vo Quoc Thang, Chairman of the Executive Board of the Vietnam Professional Football Company (VPF), PM Dung ordered the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to resolve the conflict soon and report back to the Government, so as not to interrupt television viewership.
Yesterday’s move came a few days after the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism had set up an inspection team to look into the legal basis of the company’s contract.
In a letter to the PM, VPF had suggested that the government allow VTV, VTC and other local television stations to broadcast the football matches managed by the company.
VPF had disagreed with the contents of the official letter sent by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and local authorities, asking them to respect the VFF-AVG TV rights contract.
The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) signed a contract with the Audio Visual Global Company (AVG) for the period 2011-30 and had recently released an official document stating that AVG had all broadcasting rights for the national football championship (Super League).
VPF chairman Vo Quoc Thang requested the government to order the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Information and Communications to verify the legal basis of the contract.
VPF had stuck to its view that the contract signed in late 2011 between the Vietnam Football Federation and AVG violates
Meanwhile, the Vietnam Professional Football company (VPF) said that the exclusive broadcasting rights contract between VFF and AVG was illegal as AVG has no license to operate in the TV sector and hence television stations should be allowed to broadcast live the tournament matches.
VPF and the organizing board are required to respect that broadcasting rights now belonging to AVG, which means that television stations can only broadcast matches with AVG permission.
During the meeting with the General Department of Sports and Physical Training, VPF had suggested that all Super League football matches from the third round should be reported on central and local television stations, as the broadcasting rights have not been determined by relevant agencies.
During investigation, the Government had allowed television stations to broadcast all matches under the management of VPF.
After receiving PM Dung's directive, AVG issued a press release to affirm that it would comply by the Prime Minister’s orders.
