Free football viewing habit
Many viewers were surprised when functional agencies dismantled the illegal Xôi Lạc TV broadcasting system, but reality shows that watching football through unlicensed websites has become a habit of a part of fans for many years.
Just by searching for the match or tournament name, users can quickly find many live links. Without registering an account, without downloading the application and without paying a fee, viewers can almost access the match after just a few operations.
This convenience is the first factor that makes many people choose to watch football in an unorthodox way.
Sharing with Lao Dong, Ms. Xuan Huong (Hanoi) said: "Actually, at the age of 27, I have enough financial resources to spend a few hundred thousand each month for a copyright package. But frankly, I still choose to watch illegal football because the number of copyrighted tournaments is not large. Not because I am stingy, but because of the convenience and joy that traditional television has not reached.
Coming home late from work, exhausted, I just want to turn on my phone and see the match right away, instead of having to struggle to log in, remember passwords or check if this package includes this tournament. On pirated websites, everything is only a touch away.
This audience emphasized: "Song is partly because of the commentators. Listening to them'bragging', reading the audience's comments jokingly, I feel happy. It feels like sitting outside a sidewalk beer stall with friends. But anyway, illegal viewing is wrong...".
Meanwhile, the cost factor is also mentioned by many viewers. Some major tournaments are currently only broadcast on paid platforms, causing viewers to register for many different service packages if they want to follow fully.
Mr. Ha Luong (Hai Phong) said: "As a football fan, I think the reason why many people watch Xoi Lac TV is quite simple. First of all, it's because it's free, while many major tournaments now have to buy a TV package or a paid platform to watch. Not everyone is willing to spend money each month just to watch a few matches.
Just go to the web and you can watch it right away, without registering or installing complicated apps. Many times hot matches such as the Premier League or Champions League have very fast links.
In addition, the "troll troll" style, fun comments of these channels also make viewers feel more entertained.
From the perspective of another viewer, the appeal of illegal broadcasting channels also lies in the style of commentary.
Besides, according to many viewers, illegal broadcasting channels have a very wide coverage: from major tournaments to small tournaments, also known as "grass" tournaments. At the same time, many sports such as basketball, table tennis, tennis... are also broadcast live when the tournament is organized.
The pirated channel commentators were wrong, there is nothing to argue about, so now they have to pay the price for that. Unlicensed sports live broadcasting is something that needs to be stopped, nothing else can be done. Only then will football or other sports have more room to develop," a viewer said.
Copyright damage
From the perspective of professionals, the existence of illegal broadcasting platforms poses a major problem for the sports television copyright market in Vietnam.
Commentator Quang Tung said that illegal broadcasting channels cause significant damage to units that have spent money to buy copyrights.
Those are extremely large losses that cannot be measured. In fact, for important tournaments in Vietnam's sports entertainment life, broadcasters have to spend extremely large amounts of money to buy copyrights.
The appearance of illegal channels makes the number of customers no longer focus on official channels. At that time, investment units cannot recover huge investments. For example, K+, for more than 10 years, there has been no year they have not lost hundreds of billions of VND," Mr. Tung said.
According to commentator Quang Tung, in the context of increasingly expensive sports content, the existence of illegal broadcasting channels makes the business problem of many television units more difficult.
From the perspective of another commentator - commentator Quang Huy believes that the crackdown on illegal broadcasting systems is a necessary step to create a fair competitive environment for copyright investment units.
Over the years, genuine television has suffered many disadvantages. When buying copyrights, units have to come up with a business problem, not accepting losses. But when illegal broadcasting occurs, there are too many parameters that cannot be solved," Mr. Huy said.
From the story of Xoi Lac TV, it can be seen that handling illegal broadcasting platforms is only part of the problem. Besides legal factors, the sports content market also needs changes in user experience, audience approach and copyright awareness to create a more sustainable broadcasting environment.
