Can't ban Facebook from broadcasting Premier League

Before the news that the Vietnam Pay Television Association (VNPayTV) sent a document to the Ministry of Information and Communications to request not to grant Facebook a license to broadcast the English Premier League (EPL) in Vietnam, there were many debates on football forums.

Most opinions expressed disagreement with VNPayTV. According to information from last July, Facebook bought exclusive rights to broadcast the Premier League for 3 seasons 2019-2022 in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, for a total of 264 million USD. Therefore, VNPayTV's petition to the Ministry of Information and Communications to ban Facebook from broadcasting the Premier League in Vietnam has made not only the public but also the television industry concerned.

According to a reputable TV station representative, in the battle for television copyrights for football tournaments, the unit with strong economic potential will dominate the game: "As long as they do not violate the law, commit to fully implementing regulations on pay TV business... then it is impossible to prevent Facebook from broadcasting the Premier League."

Many Vietnamese fans are excited about the possibility of watching Hazard (left) and other Premier League stars compete for free on Facebook. Photo: REUTERS

Commentator Vu Quang Huy of VTC, with his personal opinion, also believes that it is very difficult to ban Facebook from broadcasting the world's most competitive tournament in Vietnam when they already have the copyright.

An expert in the field of pay TV business admitted: "In terms of law, Facebook is operating legally in Vietnam, licensed by competent Vietnamese authorities. Therefore, Facebook has the right to do business that is not prohibited by Vietnamese law. Broadcasting the Premier League is simply a sports program, and for many years our country has accepted television units to buy copyright and broadcast. So is there any basis to ban Facebook from broadcasting the Premier League 3 season 2019-2022?".

This expert also said: "Facebook only needs to fully comply with the legal regulations on television broadcasting, properly implement the regulations on taxes, fees... and it is very difficult to ban them. On the other hand, if we try to ban them, we may violate the regulations on freedom of business within the framework of Vietnamese law and the trade agreements that our country has signed with the world.

Second, in terms of convenience, this social network is everywhere, very convenient for users, especially for watching live sports programs. In particular, they can broadcast for free to serve everyone anywhere with many convenient applications for users such as being able to watch NHA via smartphones, TVs, computers...

Therefore, it is difficult for people to accept the ban on watching the Premier League for free, while currently watching it on pay TV is required. Not to mention that because of having to pay, many football fans are currently unable to watch the Premier League" - the expert commented.

According to analysis on Facebook, many people believe that with this social networking site mainly placing servers abroad, especially when technology companies and social networks use cloud computing, blocking the Facebook application is not easy.

"I think VNPayTV should negotiate to buy back the copyright or share the copyright to serve the people and ensure its business operations instead of proposing a ban. Because that is unreasonable and goes against the law of competition!" - one of the comments that received a lot of agreement.