Football clubs of the Vietnam’s top-tier Super League 2012 have become stuck in the fight for television rights between the league organizer VPF and the digital TV firm AVG, who won an exclusive TV rights deal for 20 years, beginning in the maiden 2012 season.
Leaders of many clubs told Tuoi Tre they are confused at which TV station holds the legal rights to enter the stadiums to televise matches of the first round of the league that starts today.
Though Vietnam Football Federation and AVG had publicly announced their 20-year deal for exclusive TV rights, the share-holding company VPF has denied the validity of the deal and awarded the rights to Vietnam Television (VTV).
As a marketing and organizing partner of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF), VPF argued that it is the only legal representative of all 14 member clubs who are also shareholders of VPF, and thus, the VFF has no authorities over the TV rights of domestic leagues and other international footballing events held in Vietnam.
Binh Duong FC chairman Tran Van Duong said bluntly, “We don’t want to get involved in the legal fight, we just want to get a guarantee that our games are aired to fans across the nation.”
Binh Duong is scheduled to take on Kien Giang at 18:30pm today and Hoang Anh Gia Lai to meet Hai Phong at 16:10pm.
Vissai Ninh Binh FC boss Hoang Manh Tuong shared the idea, saying, “The involved parties should not create an unfavorable situation for fans watching the games on TV.”
Navibank Saigon FC boss Nguyen Vinh Tho expressed his worries, “I don’t know what to do if VTV and AVG and other TV stations come to my stadium to film the games. We can’t ban either of them.”
However, Song Lam Nghe An FC chairman Ho Van Chiem was very clear about which side he would give support to, “I don’t care about the deal between VFF and AVG, our club as well as 13 others are all members and shareholders of VPF, so we follow and protect the legal rights of VPF.
“Song Lam Nghe An will abide by the deal between VPF and VTV,” he concluded, hinting that the club will not permit AVG to enter their stadium during their match with Thanh Hoa tomorrow.
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