VietNamNet Bridge - The competitive broadcasting and transmission market has taken shape, with the first three players saying they are taking losses because of low service fees.

Nguyen Cong Du, deputy CEO of AVG, said that AVG now serves three pay-TV channels, but it can only reserve a fraction of the available frequencies for local television stations’ essential channels. 

Du said AVG has temporarily set up the broadcasting fee at VND1.5-2.5 billion for one SD channel for local television stations. 

However, with the fee, AVG will take a loss because of the high cost to operate the digital broadcasting network, especially in large provinces such as Quang Ninh.

AVG's advantage is that it can provide either terrestrial digital or satellite transmission to areas where terrestrial digital broadcasting cannot reach.

The competitive broadcasting and transmission market has taken shape, with the first three players saying they are taking losses because of low service fees.

Lai Thi Bich from RTB said the company has been assigned to set up a network to serve the broadcasting of 14 local television stations in the north. Therefore, RTB prioritizes 14 TV stations, and if there is vacant bandwidth, it will service other channels to get money to cover expenses.

To date, RTB has signed transmission & broadcasting contracts with Hanoi and Hai Phong Radio and Television Stations, both of which are providing HD standard channels.

Bich affirmed that with three allocated frequencies, it will be sufficient to allow 14 northern provinces to provide HD-standard TV channels if they ask to reserve capacity for HD broadcasting.

RTB has set an average fee of VND1.5-1.7 billion a year for one MB. With the required 5MB HD capacity, the Hanoi and Hai Phong Television Stations have to pay VND7.5-8 billion a year.

As for SD, the minimum required capacity is 2MB to ensure high quality of images. As such, the cost of one SD channel would be VND3-3.5 billion.

According to Bich, RTB and local TV stations have signed two-way contracts, i.e. RTB provides transmission services to TV stations and uses TV stations’ infrastructure. 

RTB commits to use all of local televisions’ infrastructure such as stations, transmitters and poles, and to pay fees for the use. 

RTB, for example, is negotiating with the Ha Nam Radio and Television Station on a similar contract. If using Ha Nam Television’s infrastructure items, RTB will pay Ha Nam VND800 million a year, excluding electricity bills and pay to technical officers.

According to Nguyen Duc Hoa, director of SDTV, the investment rate on transmission & broadcasting infrastructure is high. Companies cannot expect to make profits in the first eight years of operation.

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