On October 13, in Ho Chi Minh City, a workshop was held to discuss the management of radio and television services between the Ministry of Information and Communications and radio and television service providers in 2023.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam speaks at the workshop. Photo: Hoang Giam.

Once again, the painful story of copyright infringement in the television industry is brought up for discussion.

According to Ms. Pham Thanh Thuy, Head of the Anti-Copyright Infringement Department of Vietnam Satellite Digital Television Company Limited (VSTV/K+), copyright infringement in the digital environment is a problem in the television industry, of which over 80% of infringements occur on digital platforms.

Statistics from Similar Web show that in Vietnam, there are more than 200 illegal football websites with 1.5 billion visits in 2022, 200 illegal movie websites with 120 million views per month. Copyright infringement causes a loss of up to 348 million USD, accounting for 18% of the media industry's revenue in 2022 (according to Media Partner Asia).

In particular, illegal football websites use international domain names and services to hide information, operate openly and change domain names continuously when blocked. 75% of illegal football websites attach malicious advertisements and 97% of these advertisements contain malicious content such as betting, viruses, adult content and fraud.

Ms. Pham Thanh Thuy, Head of Anti-Copyright Infringement Department of Vietnam Satellite Digital Television Company Limited (VSTV/K+). Photo: Hoang Giam.

K+ representative said that one of the measures being effectively applied by countries around the world is to block access to these websites. For example, in Australia, the decision to block access is made by the court. Accordingly, the business provides a sample list, the court will make a decision only once and the network operators (ISPs) proactively block these violating websites regardless of whether they change their domain name or operation method. Meanwhile, in Vietnam today, each time a business proposes to block a domain name, it takes 2 days to prepare a file to send to the authorities, but it only takes 2 minutes for the violator to change the domain name.

Ms. Pham Thanh Thuy believes that we should not only block domains and DNS but also block an entire IP range. ISPs also need to block access more quickly and effectively, apply flexibly, and provide a contact point so that when violations are detected, they can be blocked immediately. Currently, when violations are detected, TV stations do not know who to send them to, and it takes a lot of time.

K+ representative proposed to solve this problem, it is necessary to establish a specialized task force under the management and supervision of the Ministry of Information and Communications, with the participation of security forces, ISPs... to handle all illegal content in the digital environment such as betting, gambling, fraud, anti-state, pornography, toxicity, copyright infringement...

Ms. To Nam Phuong, Head of External Relations Department - FPT Telecom Joint Stock Company. Photo: Hoang Giam.

Ms. To Nam Phuong, Head of External Relations Department - FPT Telecom Joint Stock Company shared that the current problem of copyright infringement, especially football copyright, is extremely painful. For example, FPT is holding the copyright to broadcast UEFA Champions League (C1) matches, when broadcasting a match in the middle of the night, only a few hundred thousand people watch, but an illegal Youtube channel has up to 1 million viewers.

Ms. To Nam Phuong believes that if only 10% of illegal viewers switch to watching on FPT, they will earn a lot of money. Therefore, drastic solutions are needed to combat copyright infringement and an alliance needs to be established instead of stations operating alone as they do now.

Mr. Nguyen Van Nhiem, Chairman of the Vietnam Film Distribution and Dissemination Association. Photo: Hoang Giam.

Chairman of the Vietnam Film Distribution and Dissemination Association, Mr. Nguyen Van Nhiem, also strongly condemned copyright infringement in the film industry. However, according to him, the current fine is too light, recently a copyright infringement unit was handled but the fine was only 90 million VND. According to him, the fine should be increased to 900 million VND to be appropriate and must hit hard financially to be a sufficient deterrent, the sanctions need to be heavier.

Mr. Tran Van Uy, Chairman of the Pay Television Association (VNPAYTV). Photo: Hoang Giam.

Mr. Tran Van Uy, Chairman of the Pay TV Association (VNPAYTV) also emphasized that the issue of copyright infringement is not a new one, it has been discussed a lot but is still very painful. It requires unity in handling, for example, currently, to report a copyright infringement case, radio and television units send documents to 8 related parties, but do the parties have a strong consensus to block it or are there some who do it and some who don't, leading to suspicion. Therefore, according to him, at this conference, this issue must be resolved.

In his concluding remarks at the workshop, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam said that the Ministry of Information and Communications agreed to establish a specialized team on copyright issues with the participation of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Public Security. Copyright infringement is associated with organized crime, for example, the Xoi Lac channel is not simply a form of live streaming online but is also associated with online fraud, online gambling, and loan sharking for football betting.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Lam shared that network operators also need to join this force to support in conducting violation statistics, using measurement technology, scanning and quickly detecting copyright violations.

At the same time, according to the Deputy Minister, it is necessary to strengthen communication to guide users and educate them not to watch pirated programs. Broadcasting service providers should issue warnings so that users understand that they are aiding and abetting copyright criminals. In the near future, the Ministry of Information and Communications plans to discuss with the police force to launch a peak campaign to attack and suppress crimes in this field.

Vietnamnet.vn