Sport channels in Vietnam: in progress

17:18' 26/06/2007 (GMT+7)

A VTC sport programme VietNamNet Bridge – Long gone is the time when sport lovers had to watch piecemeal sports programmes. There are now 2 exclusive sport channels on TV, but they still have lots to learn, according to insiders. Shortage of human resources In the race to catch up with viewers’ needs, the 2 TV sport channels in the country have been quite quick. Head of Vietnam Television (VTV) Sport Department Trinh Long Vu, for instance, said that it only took VTV one month to turn the idea of having an exclusive sport channel on its cable TV into reality. And thus VCTV3 was born. Vietnam Television Technology Corporation (VTC), which is one of VTV’s greatest rivals, has also in time developed its own sport channel, VTC3. With a rapid pace of development, however, these channels are constantly running into obstacles, one of which is how to ensure adequate high-quality human resources and programmes. VTC3’s director Vu Quang Huy said at present, his channel had only 20 reporters, while its 24/24 programmes would require at least 30. VCTV3 is also facing a shortage of reporters. "VTV has tried to recruit new people. "Hundreds applied, but only more than 10 were selected. And even these 10 didn’t perfectly satisfy our needs. And our most important part, commenting, isn’t that great,” said veteran commentator Trinh Long Vu with concern. His VTC counterpart agreed. Vu Quang Huy said out of the 20 reporters at VTC3, only 4-5 were doing their jobs well. One of the reasons not so many reporters are crazy about working for sport channels is that workload there is extremely heavy. "In order to become a sport reporter or commentator, one needs only 2 two most important things: passion and good health. And good health is extremely important,” said Long Vu. Thus, the heads of Vietnam’s only 2 exclusive sport channels said that the first and mandatory questions they asked those who came for a job interview was “Can you work at night?” “Whoever says no will be eliminated right away,” said Long Vu. That is also the reason sport channels don’t welcome women. "It is difficult to have a whole day off when you work at VTC3, even during holidays or Tet,” said Quang Huy. And even men aren’t always able to endure such stress at work. "At present, we have an advantage and that is our reporters are all young, single and trying to prove themselves. But they can’t work forever like this. They can throw 1 or 2 years of their youth into this work, but if things didn’t improve, they would find their work unproductive,” added Quang Huy. Rubbing against new things Competition has only recently taken shape in the TV station market in Vietnam, and the “big brother” of old times, VTV, is now starting to realize that more and more players are joining the game. 2006, for example, witnessed a fierce and bitter copyright battle between the 2 sport channels of VTV and VTC. VTV succeeded in buying the right to broadcast World Cup 2006 and VTC later bought the ASIAD 15 copyright, refusing to share it with VTV. But now that all battles have ended, insiders can look back at them with calmer eyes. “We’re getting familiarized with the fact that VTV can’t always succeed in buying every copyright. “If VTC succeeds in getting what VTV doesn’t have, we’re thinking about negotiating with VTC in order to rebroadcast their programmes. Such an arrangement is a very common thing in the sport world that we must get used to very soon,” said Long Vu. Vu Quang Huy perfectly agrees. "One should consider competition as part of the work, and shouldn’t be too obsessed with winning or losing. If VTC don’t get copyrights of some events, it can always make sideline programmes,” said the director of VTC3. That said, 2007 has been a victorious year for VTC, which has succeeded in buying the rights to broadcast such important international sport events as ASIAN Cup 2007, Copa Ameria, and F1 2007. The future Asked about their future goals, heads of the two sport channels had different answers. VTV is worried about having enough human resources as well as money to buy copyrights. “Now we can only meet 50% of these two needs. What VCTV3 wants is to develop a more professional work team and financial resources in order to have bigger programmes,” said Trinh Long Vu. VTC3 has another ambition in mind. "We want to avoid what exclusive sport channels in Vietnam can easily fall into: ‘Vietnamized’ foreign channels. VTC3 will be present at many domestic sport events and gradually increase broadcast slots for domestic events,” Vu Quang Huy affirmed. (Source: Viet Nam Net)