Vietnam: Pay-TV providers face tighter regulations

Tighter management of pay-TV programmes is necessary because several foreign channels are carrying content not compatible with Vietnamese culture and some are dealing with sensitive foreign affairs issues.

The Viet Nam Television's antennas which receive and transmit waves from the VINASAT 1 satellite. Some foreign channels are carrying content not compatible with the country's culture.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Do Quy Doan made this comment in an opening speech delivered yesterday at a conference in HCM City.

The conference was held in the wake of new regulations that took effect on Tuesday, November 13. The regulations specifically target the operations of pay-TV service providers, delineating what they can and cannot do.

Most importantly, they are not allowed to produce content, which is the exclusive preserve of mass media organisations.

At present, there are four types of pay-TV services: digital terrestrial; digital satellite; digital/analog cable; and internet protocol television (IPTV) with 62 local and 25 foreign channels serving 4.4 million subscribers nationwide.

"The regulations state clearly that infrastructure for pay-TV is the responsibility of the telecommunications industry; mass media organisations are in charge of producing content; and providing them to the public will be the task of cable TV service providers," said Luu Vu Hai, head of the Ministry's Television, Broadcast and Electronic Information Management Department.