Facebook joins broadcasting battlefield

September 26, 2018 | 08:17

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After huge tensions around purchasing the broadcasting rights of the World Cup and the Asiad, global social network Facebook has announced to have purchased the rights to broadcast the Premier League.

Facebook spent $264 million to own the right to broadcast the 2019-2021 Premier League. Source: Shutterstock

Facebook has just reached a $264-million deal with the Premier League to broadcast the 2019-2021 seasons in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand on its internet platform. Thus, in the next three years, Facebook users will be able to watch the programmes without depending on television networks.

Purchasing the broadcasting rights for the Premier League is Facebook’s first step into the television ground. Later on, the platform may add TV shows and game shows, media expert Le Quoc Vinh told laodong.vn.

Prior to Facebook, Amazon also spent $40 million to buy the broadcasting rights for the US Open Tennis Tournament in England during the past five years. In the US, the social network Twitter became the country’s first technology firm holding the rights to broadcast the National Football League in 2016.

Vinh also affirmed: “Facebook’s setting foot into the battlefield will be a particularly hard blow to televisions channels because their advertising incomes will shift to Facebook.”

After Facebook’s announcement, the Vietnam Pay Television Association (VNPayTV) on September 17 sent a document to the Ministry of Information and Communications, requiring authority to protect the rights of local pay televisions and not issue a licence Facebook to broadcast the Premier League due to violating the Law on Competition.

In addition, VNPayTV also propose the MIC to temporarily not license to foreign firms like Amazon and Netflix which use over-the-top (OTT) media services in Vietnam.

On the plus side, following football matches on television is currently the best option for a large number of people as television offers better quality and larger screens than smartphones and computers.

Facebook’s move shows that social networks and online platforms are television channels redoubtable opponents. It is also a wake-up call for television channels to prepare for new competition.