World Cup broadcasting rights secured
>> VTV almost reaches deal for World Cup 2018 broadcasting rights
Vietnam Television (VTV) announced that it had bought the 2018 World Cup broadcasting rights at the price of USD15m after gifts from Vingroup and Viettel.
Vietnam was the last country in the world to buy broadcasting rights. The deal was completed just a week before the World Cup starts in Russia. The Singapore-based Infront Sport & Media was appointed as the exclusive sales representative for the distribution of Asian broadcasting rights.
USD5m were sponsored by Vingroup. Nguyen Viet Quang, Vice Chairman of Vingroup, said, "After receiving VTV's request on June 7, we decided to contribute USD5m immediately. We are glad to be able to work with VTV and bring the biggest football event to Vietnamese audience."
Quang went on to say that they did not sponsor VTV for PR or advertisements. Instead, they will invest another USD1m to buy advertisements during the tournaments. He confirmed that their sponsorship does not violate any regulations and was common in other countries.
"Football is the king of sports and important part in Vietnamese people's lives, strengthening the national solidarity. Investing USD5m for millions of Vietnamese people is right," he said.
VTV will issue an official announcement once the contract gets FIFA approval. VTV will allow other television channels to share the broadcasting rights, but this must be approved by FIFA.
Earlier, local football fans worried about the possibility that VTV would not have been able to buy broadcasting rights and planned to fly to neighbouring countries such as Laos, Cambodia and Thailand to watch World Cup.
The World Cup will be held in Russia from June 14 to July 16 with 32 teams. The opening match between Russia and Saudi Arabia is set to be held at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.
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