Vietnamese sports lovers have been complaining after local television stations refused to purchase the broadcasting rights of the 2018 Asian Games (Asiad) with the excuse that the deal was too costly and ‘risky’ in terms of business.

This is the first time in history that Vietnam has not obtained the broadcasting rights of the continent’s biggest sporting event, which is held every four years.

The Games kicked off in Indonesia on Saturday night, with the men’s football competition having started several days earlier, and fans in Vietnam have since failed to watch any legally aired broadcast of the event.

Vietnamese viewers have been criticizing local television stations, especially national broadcaster Vietnam Television (VTV), for not buying the telecast rights of the 2018 Asian Games.

Nguyen Ha Nam, a senior official of VTV, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Sunday that VTV did want to purchase the broadcast package but eventually had to cancel the plan as the asking price was too high.

“As VTV is financially independent, we have to consider our spending carefully,” Nam elaborated.

The holder of the 2018 Asian Games telecast rights initially offered the package at $3 million for Vietnam, before cutting the price to $1.8 million.

In many other countries where the telecast rights have been obtained, local broadcasters require viewers to pay in order to watch the competitions, he continued.

“It is a luxury for us to purchase the costly broadcasting rights and air the Games for free,” Nam added.

Le Van Phu, head of the sports department of Ho Chi Minh City Television (HTV), backed VTV’s decision, claiming that the telecast package should have been offered at $400,000 and $1.8 million is still an unreasonably high price.

The drastic price increase could stem from the historic second-place finish of Vietnam at the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship earlier this year, Phu explained.  

It is believed that Vietnamese fans will mainly watch the men’s football category of this year’s Asiad, where many star athletes of the U-23 team are competing.

“This would thus be a risky business to pay for the costly deal,” Phu said. “If Vietnam’s football team were eliminated after the group stage, the broadcaster would suffer immense losses.”

In reality, Vietnam have advanced to the round of 16 of men’s football, having won all of their three group stage matches.

The cost of Asiad telecast rights has skyrocketed over the past decade, from $10,000 in 2002 to $200,000 in 2014 for non-exclusive packages.

The exclusive telecast rights in 2014 were $400,000, which was too high for VTV. The Saigontourist Cable Television Company (SCTV) was the only broadcaster that purchased the package that year.

Obtaining broadcasting rights in sports is now a race between pay TV firms, leaders of a pay TV company in Vietnam remarked, adding that Vietnamese viewers should get used to the pay-to-play scheme when it comes to sports on TV.

VTV previously stirred up concerns as it waited until the last minute to purchase the 2018 FIFA World Cup telecast rights.

The package was originally offered at $15 million, which was deemed too expensive. 

Following a lengthy negotiation, the national broadcaster eventually bought the rights, about less than a week before the event started.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!