Television commercialization will be inevitable
After more than 30 tournaments, the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) has not officially sold television rights. However, the move towards television commercialization has been discussed by the Southeast Asian Sports Federation and other countries in the future.
At this year's 33rd SEA Games, the stations are expected to pay a symbolic fee of 20,000 USD to participate in content production for television in Thailand.
Giving his opinion, journalist Truong Anh Ngoc expressed: I think that at some point, sports need to be socialized and need investment in development in organizing competitions and training and coaching, then the problem of selling tournament television rights will be implemented. In the world, many international tournaments have done this for many years. The SEA Games is collecting symbolic tolls. But gradually, we understand that free viewing will no longer exist. We must contribute to the SEA Games Organizing Committee and turning television into a commercialized product will bring profit to all parties".
In 2 months, the 33rd SEA Games will kick off. The 33rd SEA Games Media and Television Conference held in Bangkok (Thailand) in early September announced the basic contents for media, television and press units to pay attention to when working in Thailand. host Thailand wants to bring the sharpest and most complete TV signal on many platforms. Therefore, the production of the competition program must ensure quality and high costs.
2 years ago, TV stations and media units anxiously waited for the decision to sell the rights to watch the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia. At the last minute, the Organizing Committee of the 32nd SEA Games was free, and no television rights were sold. However, the Southeast Asian Sports Festival is being organized more and more professionally towards achieving high image and professional value, so selling television rights is not far away.
Responsibility for television copyright
Citing that major arenas such as the Olympics, ASIAD or World Cup and many major international sports tournaments in football, volleyball, tennis, and athletics all collect television copyright fees, journalist Truong Anh Ngoc believes that this is a professional way for the common development of top-level sports.
"Tournament to produce clean signals and beautiful images to serve the audience will cost a lot. Profit from major congresses or tournaments to reinvest and do better in expertise, journalist Truong Anh Ngoc acknowledged.
In 2007, the Organizing Committee of the host country Thailand of the 24th SEA Games proposed commercializing the television content of the competition. However, commercialization (at that time, not yet moving towards selling television rights) was not carried out after careful consideration.
The obstacle to commercializing television at the SEA Games is still the price of television rights. How to make the number suitable is always discussed. The symbolic fee for television units and broadcasters participating in the SEA Games before was usually around 5,000 USD - 10,000 USD. This year, the symbolic fee is 20,000 USD.
"Overall, the symbolic fee for participating in the 33rd SEA Games in television is not high. We must look at the reality of how the broadcasters will operate when the SEA Games take place, added journalist Truong Anh Ngoc.
This October, Vietnam hosted the 8th ASEAN Sports Ministers' Conference with the theme: " spending on sports to contribute to sustainable development". It is known that one of the key contents to be discussed at the conference is the development of professional sports associated with science and sports economics to improve international competitiveness.
