For many years, when EURO or the World Cup are no longer free, besides the excitement of waiting for the tournament, Vietnamese fans are worried about whether they will be able to watch it live on national airwaves or not. That anxiety, ironically, comes from the helplessness of Vietnamese TV channels in the face of the increasingly escalating price of television rights - an inevitable rule in the modern world of sports.
Increasing prices is normal. It can even be said to be cheap if compared to the population of nearly 100 million people, the high demand and the possibility of commercialization have not been fully exploited. But Vietnam is still worried. Not just a little worry. Worried to the point of having to alliance with stations, or come to business together, as if television copyright is something beyond the reach of forever.
In fact, the problem is not the price. The problem lies in the fact that while world sports race to make money from audiences, television, digital platforms, advertisements... Vietnamese sports and Vietnamese television still rely on the budget or hope for funding.
Vietnamese sports have yet to create products of great value enough to "build a copyright fund" to buy the most attractive tournaments on the planet. The stations lack attractive enough options to collect from advertising, subscribers, or additional services. The audience themselves have not had the habit of paying to watch football. An entire ecosystem has not yet taken shape, let alone developed.
To no longer worry about each World Cup, Vietnam must change from the root: Sports policy, public television operating mechanism to market approach of businesses. And the audience also needs to have a culture of paying to enjoy quality products.
But it is a long, very long road. It is not a bad thing to say that sometimes at the 2038 World Cup or 2042, that worry will remain if it does not change from now on.
