The Ministry of Communications and Information has stepped into the on-going fight over exclusive broadcasting rights for English Premiere League in an attempt to halt a bidding war.

Le Dinh Cuong, deputy president of the Vietnam Association of Pay TV, said with VTCNews that a rise in broadcasting rights was unavoidable. In the UK, Sky and BT paid £5.1 billion, while China paid USD160 million. The league's broadcasting rights are based on the league's popularity and potential audience in each country.

VTV bought the broadcasting rights for the 2002 to 2004 season for USD900,000 and paid USD2 million for 2004 to 2007 seasons. The seasons from 2007 to 2010 was bought by VTC at USD4 million. K+ then paid USD19 million to buy the broadcasting right for 2010 to the 2013 season and agreed to pay USD40 million for the broadcasting rights for seasons from 2013 to 2016.

The broadcasting rights from 2016-2019 are currently being auctioned. It is predicted that the rights might reach USD100 million.

"The broadcasting competition was very stressful in 2013 but this year it won’t be as difficult. The stations will reach agreement easily," Cuong said.

However, the intense competition has prompted the Ministry of Communications and Information to interfere. The deputy minister Truong Minh Tuan, in an directive, said the ministry had received feedback from newspapers, TV stations and related agencies about the rising fees for the English Premiere League.

The ministry asked the broadcasters to work together and refuse to buy the rights if the fees were unreasonably high. The ministry also asked the broadcasters to establish a committee to deal with the problem.