Vietnam Television

Vietnam Television (Đài Truyền hình Việt Nam), operating under its official abbreviation VTV, is the national television broadcaster of Vietnam. As the state broadcaster under the direction of the government of Vietnam, VTV is tasked with "propagating the views of the Party, policies, laws of the government".

History
VTV was established with technical assistance and training from Cuba on 7 September 1970, in Hanoi, as a department of Voice of Vietnam. During the Vietnam War it broadcast intermittently from a mountainous region.

After reunification in 1975, the former U.S.-run stations in the south became part of the national network, and broadcasting was extended to the entire country.

Color television was experimented in 1977 and adopted the French SECAM standard and fully implemented in 1986. Vietnam Television became an official name on 30 April 1987. And by 1990, VTV viewers had two national TV channels to choose from as VTV2 was launched and that year switched to PAL.

VTV3 channels was broadcast on 31 March 1996, in 1998 the channel was broadcast via satellite to localities across the country. The remaining channels began to air in the following year, respectively.

VTV3 is the first channel to be broadcast HD since June 2013. The remaining channels be upgraded in turn to broadcast standard in the following year. In time to 2015 to 2022, all channel are broadcast under HD and SD signal in parallel.

VTV's regional broadcasting centres are located in Ho Chi Minh City, Huế, Da Nang, Nha Trang (formerly in Phú Yên), and Cần Thơ. Programming is relayed nationwide via a network of provincial and municipal television stations. There are transmitters in most outlying areas of the country. By 2003, more than 80% of all urban households owned a television set. The percentage was considerably less in rural areas, but even the most remote village cafe has a TV and video or DVD player.

During January 1–7, 2020, VTV performed SD & HD channel sync testing for from VTV1 - VTV7 channels and January 10, 2020, for VTV9.

Between 19 March and 30 April 2020, as a safety precaution due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, Vietnam Television temporarily suspended the overnight timeslot on most channels, with the exception of VTV1, VTV4 and VTV7, and limited the broadcast time to 19 hours per day. The overnight timeslot returned to these channels as of 00:00 on May 1, 2020.

From May 10, 2020, Decree 34/2020/ND-CP officially takes effect. Accordingly, VTV merged and restructured the station's editing, production and broadcasting units and Vietnam Television Centers in the Central and Southern regions.

From July 30 to September 2, 2020, during the time of social distancing to prevent the COVID-19 epidemic in central provinces and cities, VTV8 continues to shorten the broadcast time to 19 hours daily. From September 3, 2020, VTV8 has broadcast 24 hours daily again.

On December 31, 2020, the station stopped broadcasting terrestrial analogue television in the 15 provinces of group IV of the Terrestrial Television Digitization Scheme, completing the national television digitization.

On September 8, 2022, Decree No. 60/2022/ND-CP on the organization, tasks and powers of Vietnam Television was issued. Accordingly, the Youth Department is no longer part of the department system of Vietnam Television Station as from October 1, 2022. And renamed many department, at the same time, the Vietnam Television Center in the Southern region was split and re-established, which includes Vietnam Television Center in Ho Chi Minh City as well as Vietnam Television Center in the Southwest region (on the basis of the Southwest Regional Office of Vietnam Television Center in the Southern region). The Vietnam Television Center in the Southwest region is responsible for producing programs for VTV Cần Thơ and other VTV channels.

On October 10, 2022, VTV6 officially stopped broadcasting after 15 years, being replaced with VTV Cần Thơ, the national television channel of the Southwest region, later officially on October 13, 2022.

On November 1, 2022, VTV officially synchronized SD & HD streams for all channels (VTV5 Tây Nam Bộ has removed HD word, apart for channels VTV5 Tây Nguyên, VTV8 and VTV Cần Thơ have synchronized streams before).

Channels
VTV currently runs the following channels:


 * VTV1: News and current affairs channel; 24/7. The channel also broadcasts live important national events and parliament meetings. Music and movies are the only fields that largely fall outside its main format. VTV1 was initially broadcast on 7 September 1970. An HD version of VTV1 was launched on 31 March 2014. It is one of the seven must-carry national channels, and it must be carried free-to-air by all satellite and cable providers in Vietnam.
 * VTV2: Science and education channel; broadcasting 24/7. The channel also broadcasts foreign TV series. VTV2 started transmission on 1 January 1990. An HD version of VTV2 was launched on 20 May 2015.
 * VTV3: Sports and entertainment channel, broadcasting 24/7. VTV3 officially launched on 31 March 1996. An HD version of VTV3 was launched on 31 March 2013. This is the first channel in VTV to broadcast in high-definition.
 * VTV4: An international channel officially launched in 1998, offering a best-of package of programming from VTV's domestic channels to the Vietnamese diaspora, being available in Taiwan's CHT MOD on Channel 215. An HD version of VTV4 was launched on 24 June 2015.
 * VTV5: Ethnic language channel, broadcast 24/7. VTV5 launched on 10 February 2002. An HD version of VTV5 was launched on 1 July 2015.
 * VTV5 Tây Nam Bộ: A bilingual Khmer-Vietnamese channel and first regional variation of VTV5, broadcast 24/7. VTV5 TNB was launched on 1 January 2016.
 * VTV5 Tây Nguyên: Ethnic language channel in Central Highlands region of Vietnam and second regional variation of VTV5, broadcast 24/7. VTV5 TN was launched on 17 October 2016.
 * VTV Cần Thơ: Specialized channel for viewers in the Southwest region of Vietnam, broadcast from 5:30 to 23:30. It was soft-launched on 10 October 2022 and began broadcasting officially from 13 October 2022.
 * VTV7: Educational and children-orientated channel, broadcast from 06:00 to 24:00. VTV7 and VTV7 HD both soft-launched from 20 November 2015 and began broadcasting officially on 1 January 2016.
 * VTV8: Specialized channel for viewers in the Central and Central Highlands region of Vietnam, broadcast 24/7. VTV8 was launched on 1 January 2016.
 * VTV9: Specialized channel for viewers in the Southeast region of Vietnam, launched on 8 October 2007. An HD version of VTV9 was launched on 28 August 2015.

Defunct channels

 * VTV6: Youth channel that targets an audience between 18 and 34 years old and sporting events, broadcast 24/7. VTV6 started broadcasting on 29 April 2007. An HD version of VTV6 was launched on 7 September 2013. From October 10, 2022, this channel is replaced by VTV Cần Thơ.
 * VTV Huế
 * VTV Đà Nẵng
 * VTV Phú Yên
 * VTV Cần Thơ 1
 * VTV Cần Thơ 2

Since 2003, all the above channels are also available via satellite, digital terrestrial, and digital cable networks across Vietnam. The VTV itself offers 15 pay TV channels through satellite television and digital cable which are called K+ and VTVCab respectively,

Changes to VTV regional channels were made on 1 January 2016. VTV Huế, VTV Đà Nẵng, and VTV Phú Yên ceased programming and became VTV8, a specific channel for Central and Highland Regions of Vietnam. Both the old VTV9 (which was only for Ho Chi Minh City and Southeast Vietnam regions) and VTV Cần Thơ 1 (which was only for Cần Thơ City and Hậu Giang Province) merged to form the new VTV9 for both southeast and southwest of Vietnam, while VTV Cần Thơ 2 was renamed VTV5 Tây Nam Bộ, a bilingual Khmer-Vietnamese channel and the first regional variation of VTV5. On 17 October 2016, VTV5 Tây Nguyên, a channel for ethnic minorities in Central Highlands of Vietnam and another regional variation of VTV5, was also launched.

Programming
VTV has its own film production company, the Vietnam Television Film Centre (formerly Vietnam Television Film Company), or VFC, which produces made-for-television movies and miniseries. Shows may also include foreign serial melodramas dubbed in Vietnamese, shown on VTV1 or VTV3.

Aside from news and current affairs programming, VTV1 devotes itself to orchestral concerts, ballets, traditional theatre, ethnic minority culture shows and films.

On Vietnamese New Year's Eve, VTV broadcasts a block of specialised programmes, a special edition of the 19:00 news bulletin, satirical theatrical comedy Gặp nhau cuối năm ("Year-end reunion"), dedicated music shows, and a live broadcast of New Year's Eve celebrations across the country.

VTV worldwide bureaux
As of 2020, VTV has 17 bureaux with stationed staff and correspondents at:


 * Vientiane, Laos LNTV
 * Phnom Penh, Cambodia TVK
 * Singapore, ASEAN region Mediacorp
 * Beijing, China CCTV
 * Tokyo, Japan NHK
 * Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia RTM
 * Jakarta, Indonesia TVRI
 * Manila, Philippines ABS-CBN
 * Moscow, Russia VGTRK
 * Paris, France RTBF
 * Seoul, South Korea KBS
 * Brussels, Belgium, Europe region RTBF
 * London, United Kingdom, UK and Ireland region BBC
 * Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Middle East region Abu Dhabi TV
 * Washington, D.C., United States PBS
 * New York City, United States PBS
 * Los Angeles, United States PBS

Criticism and controversies
Despite creating a strong influence among the Vietnamese public, VTV has also been involved in many controversies over political issues, piracy and the spread of false and one-sided information.

Political
VTV4 has been criticized by South Vietnamese refugees and Vietnamese emigrants, due to the network supporting communist rule. This controversy was initiated in 2003, when Australian public broadcaster SBS began to air news bulletins from VTV4 as a part of WorldWatch, a block that transmits news programs from broadcasters across the world. VTV4's bulletin was quickly removed after the backlash. On the 2019 Lunar New Year edition of the cultural show Vietnamese Beauties (Vẻ đẹp Việt), VTV used the figure of Trần Lệ Xuân, the former South Vietnamese First Lady to illustrate Vietnamese áo dài styles through the times. Two days later, on the variety show called 12 Zodiacs (12 Con Giáp), VTV unintentionally displayed a frame showing a member of the P336 band wearing a yellow jacket which resembled the South Vietnamese flag.

Copyright infringement
On 28 February 2016, VTV admitted that they had used copyrighted content without permission in some of its programs. Thus, VTV's YouTube channel was terminated. The case was brought into attention after videographer Bùi Minh Tuấn claimed that VTV had repeatedly used his drone videos. He claimed that between 2015 and 2016, he had sent many complaints to VTV, the Department of Copyright and the Vietnam Ministry of Information and Communications to report around 20 copyright infringements by VTV, to no avail. Tuan decided to report the case to Google. In 2008, VTV lost its rights to broadcast the Miss World competition due to copyright issues. In 2016, it lost the broadcasting rights to the 2015-16 UEFA Champions League season.

Spreading false information
In May 2016, VTV was fined 50 million VND (equivalent to 2,108 USD) by the Ministry of Information and Communications after publishing a reportage of farmers sweeping vegetables to pretend to be worms eating vegetables that considered to be "false".

On a reportage in the live business news "Tài Chính Kinh Doanh" (Business Finance), first aired on the morning of August 17, 2020 on VTV1, one of the main anchors, Anh Quang had made a remark: "... street vendors, which are considered parasites living on the street..." This made the audience misunderstood the content that the editorial team want to convey while the whole reportage is a view of sharing and sympathy with the street vendors who are struggling to make a living during COVID-19 epidemic. On the same newscast two days later, the news anchor apologized to the audience for this serious error.

During the weekly segments of "Chuyển Động 24h" (Motion News 24h) first aired on July 31, 2021, on VTV1, the presenter Dương Sơn Lâm caused a fierce controversy among netizens when comparing people's brains in violation of the epidemic prevention and control distance in COVID-19 with reptilian and animal brain. In fact, some viewers quickly realized that the image of the human brain structure used in the show was the image of the Triune brain, which has been scientifically unrecognized since the 1980s. The spotlight reportage of this program is also sometimes controversial among Vietnamese netizens for its multi-dimensionality, objectivity and authenticity.

Online broadcasts
Sites such as https://vtvgo.vn/ show online live broadcasts of VTV channels. The VTV Go app is also available on smart TV devices and smartphones.