K+ 'closes' after 16 years

K+ channel.jpg — K+ builds its brand based on the strategy of "taking the Premier League as the main axis"

Recently, K+ sent an email to pay TV partners informing them that they will stop broadcasting from January 1, 2026. This notice also includes urging pay TV partners to pay off their contracts through selling the English Premier League (EPL) copyright package.

'K+ sent us an email to inform us that they are ceasing operations. Currently, there are not many customers for the Premier League package and we have informed them that the broadcast of this tournament will stop from January 1, 2026. We have a plan to compensate customers with other channels for those who pre-paid for the Premier League package,' said the leader of a pay TV company.

The news that K+ is withdrawing from the market is no longer a rumor of withdrawal or restructuring, but a decision to end operations, closing a long chapter of the Vietnamese pay TV market.

In fact, the 'end of K+' has been predicted in advance. Canal+ Group, the major shareholder in France, has repeatedly admitted that the situation is not favorable in Asia, especially Vietnam, when its operations have been losing money for a long time.

In a context where revenue does not increase commensurate with licensing and operating costs, financial balance becomes impossible.

Financial reports in recent years show that K+'s accumulated loss by mid-2025 has approached about VND 5,500 billion, with deeply negative equity.

Although revenue remains at 1,000 - 1,200 billion VND/year, each year K+ records a loss of several hundred billion VND, a number too large for a market where users' willingness to pay is limited and copyright infringement is rampant.

From a market perspective, the withdrawal of K+ is not just the disappearance of a brand, but a huge gap in premium sports content, especially the Premier League, which has been associated with the K+ name for more than a decade.

For many years, K+ has built its brand based on the strategy of “taking the Premier League as the main axis”. The broadcasting rights of EPL are the core assets, the main “bait” to attract subscribers.

In the early stages, when IPTV and OTT were still in their infancy and illegal websites had not yet exploded, this strategy brought a big advantage: fans who wanted to watch English football were forced to come to K+.

However, the game is changing rapidly. The rise of OTT platforms such as MyTV,FPT Play, TV360, VieON... has completely changed content viewing habits.

On the other hand, illegal football websites have developed explosively. With just a phone, users can watch most matches for free, although the quality and legality are both worrying.

When the difference in experience is not big enough, many fans choose to “not pay” instead of buying the K+ package. This directly erodes the value of the copyright monopoly model in reality.

K+ is caught between two “pincers”: on one side is the continuously increasing EPL copyright cost, on the other side is the ability to recover capital being suffocated by illegal websites and limited user income.

The pressure forced K+ to maintain high subscription prices and expand distribution through a series of cable TV, IPTV, and OTT partners to increase subscribers, but still could not cover costs.

In that context, the decision to stop broadcasting and accept to stop playing the game is the end of a strategy that was correct in the early stages but lost steam in the face of the wave of digital transformation and changes in digital content consumption behavior.

PV (synthesis)

Source: https://baohaiphong.vn/k-dong-cua-sau-16-nam-528770.html