Ministry to probe broadcast rights

Rules of the game: Cameramen film a football match at Ha Noi's My Dinh National Stadium. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has announced an investigation into exclusive broadcasting rights contracts between the Viet Nam Football Federation (VFF) and the Audio Vision Global Co (AVG). — VNA/VNS Photo Quang Thang

HA NOI — The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism promulgated an official document on Monday, announcing the inspection of an exclusive broadcasting contracts between the Viet Nam Football Federation (VFF) and the Audio Vision Global Company (AVG).

The deadline for inspection is 15 days from Monday. In the interim, related companies must respect the signed contract.

The VFF signed a contract with the AVG from 2011-30 and recently released an official document stating that AVG has all broadcasting rights for national football tournaments.

The VFF's document stated that the VFF previously handed all rights, including broadcasting rights, to the Viet Nam Professional Football Company (VPF) who was to manage VFF contracts.

The VPF and organising board are required to respect that broadcasting rights now belong to the AVG, which means television stations can only broadcast matches with AVG permission.

However, there has been on-going conflict between the AVG and the VPF as to what exactly happened.

Last week, the VPF sent an official document to the Ministry of Justice; the Ministry ofInformation and Communication; and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to request verification of the legality of the contract between VFF and AVG. Right after that, AVG also sent an official document to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for inspection.

"At present, the AVG has no comment. We will wait for the conclusion of appropriate authorities," said AVG's chairman Pham Nhat Vu. — VNS

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