Netflix will be blocked without local office
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An official said that providers of cross-border over-the-top (OTT) television services such as Netflix and iQiYi will be blocked and sanctioned if they do not establish legal entities in Vietnam.
“If a cross-border OTT television service provider does not have a legal entity in Vietnam, the Ministry of Information and Communications will coordinate with telecommunications enterprises to block access to it,” Nguyen Ha Yen, deputy general director of the ministry’s Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information, said at a conference on the issue Monday.
He noted that five cross-border OTT television service providers are operating in Vietnam, including two from the U.S. and three from China.
According to a new policy on communications media management that came into effect at the beginning of the year, pay television service providers operating in Vietnam must have a representative office in the country that falls under the management of Vietnamese authorities.
According to the ministry, the policy is to ensure fairness between international and domestic enterprises in the pay television service market.
“The world’s OTT giants attract a large amount of advertising but do not comply with Vietnamese regulations. That’s not fair to domestic OTT businesses,” said Tran Van Uy, chairman of the Vietnam Pay Television Association.
Uy said that if OTT television services are not managed, there is a risk their content could upset a variety of cultural, political and legal norms.
Many films that are not allowed to be shown via Vietnamese OTT services due to violations of certain regulations are still broadcast by Netflix, he noted.
“There should be sanctions on both hardware devices and applications. Many TV sets sold in Vietnam have Netflix built into their operating systems, so people can use the service simply by pressing a single button on the remote,” he said.
Huynh Long Thuy, general director of VieON Corporation, the owner of the Vietnamese OTT app VieON, said that over the past five years, cross-border OTT service providers have directly charged users in Vietnam, and have many times shown content that distorts Vietnamese history and infringes on the country’s sovereignty.
The streaming services did not remove the content until Vietnamese authorities asked them to do so. If Vietnamese OTT services provide such content, they will be punished immediately, Thuy said.
According to ministry statistics, revenues from OTT television services in Vietnam stood at VND1.55 trillion (US$65.68 million) in 2022, up 27.2% over 2017.
The number of OTT television subscribers reached 5.5 million, an increase of 26.2% compared to 2017.
Vietnam currently has 22 local and foreign pay television service providers, including Netflix, iFlix from Malaysia, and WeTV from China.
Netflix is expected to open an office in Vietnam late this year.
Questions & Answers
Q.Which specific OTT service providers are currently operating in Vietnam?
Which specific OTT service providers are currently operating in Vietnam?
Five cross-border OTT television service providers operate in Vietnam. These include two from the U.S. And three from China, along with iFlix from Malaysia and WeTV from China, and Netflix.
Q.What is the primary reason given for requiring cross-border OTT providers to establish local legal entities?
What is the primary reason given for requiring cross-border OTT providers to establish local legal entities?
The policy aims to ensure fairness between international and domestic enterprises in the pay television service market. Domestic businesses feel it is unfair that global OTT giants attract advertising revenue but do not comply with Vietnamese regulations.
Q.When did the new policy on communications media management, requiring representative offices, come into effect?
When did the new policy on communications media management, requiring representative offices, come into effect?
The new policy on communications media management came into effect at the beginning of the current year. This policy mandates that pay television service providers in Vietnam must have a representative office.
Q.What measures could be taken if OTT services are found to be pre-installed on hardware devices?
What measures could be taken if OTT services are found to be pre-installed on hardware devices?
There should be sanctions on both hardware devices and applications. This addresses the issue of TV sets sold in Vietnam having Netflix built into their operating systems, allowing easy access.