Pressure from illegal websites and channels
After winning the rights to broadcast the English Premier League in Vietnam from January 1, 2026 to the end of the 2030-2031 season, FPT Play is facing the problem of effectively exploiting valuable content sources. A challenge that sports copyright holders face is copyright infringement on the Internet.
Statistics from the Premier League organizers show that in just two seasons 2023-2024 and 2024-2025, about 7,000 violating domain names have been detected and prevented in Vietnam.
However, illegal websites regularly change domain names, server systems or operating forms to continue illegally broadcasting matches. Most recently, on the afternoon of March 5, when accessing, Xoi Lac TV website was still operating and broadcasting some matches. These subjects continuously changed domain names to continue illegally broadcasting sports and football tournaments, associated with betting and gambling.
A representative of FPT Play once shared with Lao Dong Newspaper: "Copyright infringement is a prominent issue in the Vietnamese market. Any content from entertainment to sports, especially top sports, must face this difficult problem. We are actively coordinating with functional agencies and state management to have effective copyright protection plans.
In addition, we also have experience and proactively apply technology in copyright protection, from applying Digital Rights Management technology on the system, to increasing monitoring and removing illegal links or applying account authentication methods, limiting sharing...".
Illegal broadcast websites such as Xoi Lac TV make the television copyright market in Vietnam face many difficulties, from revenue loss to affecting the process of negotiating to buy copyrights for major tournaments.
Consequences for the television copyright market
To obtain copyrights for major tournaments, domestic television stations or businesses have to spend a very large amount of money. The copyright value of tournaments such as the World Cup, EURO, Asian Cup... usually amounts to tens of millions of USD. In addition to copyright purchase costs, units also have to invest in technical infrastructure, program production and content promotion.
However, when the matches are officially broadcast, many pirated websites take signals and replay them for free on their platforms. This causes the number of viewers on official platforms to be dispersed and revenue to be affected.
Violating websites often insert dense advertisements to generate revenue, linking to online betting platforms. Thanks to the large number of viewers from football matches, these websites can make significant profits from advertising and gambling-related activities.
Meanwhile, legal broadcasting units not only spend large costs on copyright, but also have to comply with many regulations on content and advertising.
Another consequence is the impact on the copyright negotiation process between international partners and the Vietnamese market. Copyright holders are concerned about the ability to protect content in each country. When illegal broadcasting is widespread, they tend to tighten licensing conditions or raise copyright selling prices.
The characteristics of operating in the network environment make it difficult to handle violating websites. Many websites place servers abroad, constantly change domain names or use intermediate systems to broadcast.
Commentator Quang Tung said: "Sometimes the money that broadcasters spend includes the cost of a unit exploiting copyright but not being able to protect copyright. That is what the Vietnamese pay television market has encountered.
Meaning that when we buy at a reasonable price (not full package), we must bear strict conditions on copyright protection in Vietnam and can be completely fined if we cannot protect that copyright. Therefore, buying copyrights at a higher price will minimize the risk of being fined.
