The information was released by Le Quang Tu Do, head of the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information (ABEI), at the conference on management over radio and television service activities held on October 13.

Do said in June 2023 the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) had a working session with radio and television representatives to discuss solutions to remove difficulties if their advertising revenue dropped sharply.

Pay-TV has held up better than radio, growing by 1.4 percent in the first half of the year with 18.6 million pay-TV subscribers, up 12 percent. The face of the market segment has seen considerable changes with official participation of cross-border platforms, including Netflix, which applied for permission to provide pay-TV services in Vietnam.

According to Bui Huy Cuong from ABEI, in Vietnam, there are two broadcast TV stations in Vietnam, including Northern Digital Television JSC (DTV) which is now broadcast in 15 localities with 15 channels, and Southern Digital Television JSC (SDTV) broadcast in 30 cities/provinces with 12-16 channels. They provide domestic broadcasting channels which have revenue of VND50 billion a year.

Meanwhile, there are 35 pay-TV channels, providing 1-4 types of services within one province/city or across the country. Their content is diverse and rich, shown on domestic channels, national essential channels, broadcast channel, foreign channels and VOD (video on demand). The total revenue of the market is estimated that VND10 trillion.

MIC is urging VTVGo to become the national digital TV. The ministry has worked with television manufacturers on putting VTVGo app into TV app stores, setting a hard button on TV remote controllers and stipulating that all TVs sold must have installed VTVGo.

According to ABEI, the number of traditional TV service providers remains unchanged since 2019 and only two companies stopped their operation. Meanwhile, big changes can be seen in the OTT TV market.

There were 22 service providers in the market, but four of them left and the other two shifted to provide VODs. The revenue from traditional TVs remains stable, while the revenue from OTT TV has slowed down recently.

According to Cuong, to continue to develop, businesses in the radio and TV sectors need to digitize managing and operating services to adapt to big changes in the market. 

Le My - Hoang Giam