Proposal to merge VTC Television Station into Voice of Vietnam Radio Station

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan said that in the process of developing a press plan, there is a plan to merge the Digital Television Station (VTC) into the Voice of Vietnam (VOV).

Although not a national station, VTC has recently performed its propaganda functions as a national station. Illustrative photo. Source: Internet.

At the November 2014 State Management Conference of the Ministry of Information and Communications held this morning, December 3, 2014, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan said that recently there have been many comments on the draft press planning, including a proposal for VTC Digital Television Station to be merged into Voice of Vietnam.

“VOV has also submitted a document to the Prime Minister on this plan. Currently, the leaders of the Ministry of Information and Communications are proposing two options: one is to bring VTC back to VOV, so that VTC can perform many tasks, including the very important task of the National Assembly Television Channel; the other is to leave VTC station in the Ministry as it is now. This issue is being consulted with the Party Central Committee when the Ministry of Information and Communications seeks opinions on the press planning project. And the decision to approve VTC to be merged into VOV will be signed and issued by the Prime Minister,” said Deputy Minister Truong Minh Tuan.

The Deputy Minister requested the Institute of Information and Communications Strategy to promptly complete the submission to the Party Committee and the Government on press planning.

According to Deputy Minister Truong Minh Tuan, VTC Digital Television Station is the first digital broadcasting station in Vietnam, and now major stations are also following this trend of VTC. VTC was separated from VTC Corporation under the direction of the Secretariat and the Prime Minister, and was brought under the Ministry of Information and Communications. Although not a national station (the whole country currently has only two national stations, VTV and VOV), VTC has long been broadcasting and covering the whole country, performing the function of information and propaganda like national stations in propagating areas of social life. After being separated under the Ministry of Information and Communications, VTC has consolidated and improved step by step to operate effectively, increasingly meeting the needs of listeners and viewers.

The information about the proposal to merge VTC into VOV was announced by Deputy Minister Truong Minh Tuan after VTC General Director Nguyen Thanh Lam reflected on the recent situation where there were rumors about VTC being merged into VOV, many officers and employees of the station were wondering "where to go".

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Lam affirmed: "In all cases, we can confidently trust the arrangements and decisions of the leaders of the Ministry of Information and Communications for the future development of the Station in the overall picture of national press planning."

According to Decree 132/2013/ND-CP of the Government regulating the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Information and Communications, VTC Digital Television Station (VTC Station is a press agency assigned by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications - now the Ministry of Information and Communications to VTC Multimedia Corporation for management and construction for 10 years) will be transferred to become a public service unit under the Ministry of Information and Communications from the beginning of December 2013.

In April 2014, VTC Corporation officially signed the minutes of handover of VTC Station's personnel and finances to VTC Station for management as approved by the Prime Minister.

According to the handover minutes, VTC Corporation will hand over to VTC Station 702 staff, including 362 male staff and 340 female staff, in which the majority of staff have university and post-graduate degrees. In principle, the two sides agreed to hand over the status quo, responsibility for performing related obligations regarding the organization and personnel of VTC Station and press units to VTC Station to receive and manage from January 1, 2014.

According to Infonet