VNPayTV wants floor charges for pay TV

May 06, 2015 | 16:56
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The Vietnam Pay Television Association (VNPayTV) has suggested floor fees for pay TV services in the country in a plan submitted to the Ministry of Information and Communications.
Members of a family watch a pay TV channel in this file photo. According to VNPayTV, floor charges are necessary to ensure healthy competition in the pay TV market as some firms have undercut charges to woo customers - PHOTO: VAN LY

The services are now available in different formats such as cable TV, digital terrestrial TV, digital satellite TV and Internet protocol TV (IPTV).

VNPayTV proposed the ministry apply monthly charges of VND60,000 (US$2.79) to VND90,000 for the analog cable TV service with 40-72 channels, VND180,000-220,000 for high-definition (HD) cable TV service with 110-120 channels, VND65,000-80,000 for digital terrestrial TV service with 75-85 channels, VND90,000-250,000 for digital satellite TV service and VND85,000-90,000 for IPTV.

Many pay TV service providers currently offer charges much lower than the suggested floor fees. For instance, An Vien Group (AVG) quotes the digital satellite TV service with 70 channels at VND33,000 per month while Vietnam Television Corporation (VTC) charges the digital terrestrial TV service at VND60,000.

Le Dinh Cuong, vice chairman and general secretary of VNPayTV, said floor charges are necessary to ensure healthy competition as some providers have undercut charges to woo customers.

As more telecom corporations will join the pay TV market in the coming time, competent agencies need to improve their management capacity to restore order in the market.

Earlier, VTV and VASC called for the ministry to have effective measures to head off a fee undercutting race among pay TV service providers.

The ministry is drafting a decree on management and charges for TV and radio services in which service providers with market share of more than 30% would be required to register new service fees with authorities.

SGT

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