After functional agencies announced the crackdown on the illegal Xôi Lạc TV sports broadcasting system, many network users can still find websites with similar content and interface operating on the Internet. Notably, many of these websites have changed their domain names compared to before. Instead of using the old address, websites switch to new domain names or add characters and numbers to maintain accessibility.
This shows that the battle to protect sports copyright on digital platforms still faces many challenges.
Before stopping K+'s operations, the unit owning the copyright of the English Premier League once shared that preventing violations against illegal football websites is the biggest challenge. "Illegal football websites operate very sophisticatedly, if they block 1 page, they can change the domain name in just 1 minute and continue operating," Ms. Pham Thanh Thuy - Head of Copyright Violation Prevention Department, Vietnam Satellite Digital Television Co., Ltd. shared a few years ago.
K+ has also used many measures to sue copyright infringement websites in Vietnam. This is one of the businesses that lost large revenue due to pirated movies and pirated football.
According to data from Media Partners Asia, Vietnam is still in the group of countries with the most copyright infringement. In 2022, it was estimated that from television film and football copyright infringement to 350 million USD, the figure could increase to 457 million USD by 2027.
It can be said that the development and growth of systems like Xoi Lac TV is one of the reasons why K+ had to stop operating in Vietnam because revenue was not enough to cover expenses.
Xoi Lac TV, a website specializing in illegal distribution of international sports tournaments on the Internet since 2016, was developed by an anonymous group. In the videos, the channel's commentators repeatedly said they are living abroad. Domain names registered through the GoDaddy service and servers with IP addresses in the US.
Talking to Lao Dong, an expert in the advertising and media industry shared that illegal football websites such as Xoi Lac TV can achieve revenue of 10 billion VND/month or more in many forms: Such as selling banners per day (CPD) or displays (CPM), clicks (CPC); selling TVCs per view (CPV) - displayed when pressing the play stream button or selling TVCs between matches, break times (CPV).
These websites can reach 200,000 to 500,000 visits/day, with peak times reaching 1 million/day during major international events such as EURO or World Cup.
Also according to this expert, the revenue from illegal football websites like Xoi Lac comes mostly from sharing profits with betting sites. Thanks to that, they can maintain continuous operation, which is difficult to control...
In that context, the dismantling of the Xoi Lac TV system contributes to creating a healthy competitive environment, encouraging creativity, and creating competition in the sports television copyright market.
According to Media Partner Asia, effectively combating copyright infringement could help triple revenue for the media and television industry; could help increase nearly 12 million legal subscribers; create nearly 5,000 new jobs in Vietnam.
This also helps increase awareness and respect for intellectual property rights for the public, ensuring an online environment, safety, and information security.
