SEA Games and the story of television copyright

SEA Games 32 - Incomplete experiment

SEA Games television rights first became a hot topic in 2022, when Cambodia, the host of the 32nd SEA Games, announced that it would sell television rights instead of sharing them for free or charging a symbolic fee as is customary.

This decision was officially announced after a meeting in July 2022 of the Executive Committee of the Southeast Asian Games Federation (SEAGF) Council.

reporter search image.jpg -0 — TV reporter working at SEA Games 31.

Cambodia said that the commercialization of copyright will help reduce the burden of organization costs and increase the professionalism of the Games. Later, in Vietnam, VTV Cab also officially announced that it had the copyright to broadcast the Games. In Southeast Asia, Vietnam was also one of the first countries to announce that it owned the copyright to broadcast the 32nd SEA Games. The price was not disclosed at that time, but that was the business of this unit.

The important thing is that Vietnamese fans can still watch the SEA Games, where Vietnamese athletes can bring many gold medals to the country's sports. And although the SEA Games cannot compete in terms of level with the ASIAD and the Olympics, the gold medals from the Games still have a great influence on fans, making them happy and excited when watching the competitions here.

While Vietnam has early rights to broadcast the 32nd SEA Games, many other countries are hesitant. The reason comes from the price of the television rights that the 32nd SEA Games Organizing Committee has set for many other countries in the region, which is considered high. In particular, the price of the 32nd SEA Games television rights is 800,000 USD for Thailand, 500,000 USD for Indonesia, many times higher than the symbolic fee of 10,000 USD that Vietnam collects for the 31st SEA Games in 2022.

Indonesia's national broadcaster has had to reconsider its broadcasting rights for the first time because of the high price. Thailand, which proposed commercializing the broadcasting rights for the 25th SEA Games in 2007, has also had to reconsider the price.

By March 2023, just under two months before the 32nd SEA Games, only four countries (Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore) had completed the purchase of the television rights to the 32nd SEA Games. Meanwhile, many other national stations were still considering purchasing the rights to the 32nd SEA Games.

Finally, the surprise came when in March 2025, the 32nd SEA Games Organizing Committee of Cambodia decided to completely waive the television copyright and tickets to watch the Games' competitions. This decision caused the Malaysian Paralympic Council (PCM), the unit that bought the copyright and resold it in Malaysia, to react and claim that it did not follow the commercialization policy approved by SEAGF since July 2022.

Before Cambodia's decision to waive the fee, PCM was the copyright holder of the 32nd SEA Games, making Malaysia one of four countries to buy the copyright, along with Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia. PCM has completed agreements with four television stations, three internet service providers and four telecommunications companies on the resale of the copyright. PCM's representative still asserts that the SEA Games should be commercialized instead of returning to the starting point.

Will SEA Games 33 be different?

Not giving up on the direction approved by the Southeast Asian Games Federation Council from 2022, Thailand - the host country of the 33rd SEA Games - 2025 - continues to pursue the policy of selling television rights.

Since early 2024, the Thai Olympic Committee and the 33rd SEA Games Organizing Committee have informed member countries that the broadcasting rights of the SEA Games will be commercialized. At the second Southeast Asian Games Federation Council Meeting in mid-June, this content was officially discussed.

Although the price list has not been announced, Thailand has planned to invite representatives of national television stations to attend the 3rd Southeast Asian Games Federation Council Meeting in August to agree on a mechanism for accessing television copyright. If successfully implemented, the 33rd SEA Games will become the first Games to actually collect broadcasting fees, not just stop at testing like the 32nd SEA Games or collect symbolic fees like some previous SEA Games.

Regional television and sports experts say that selling television rights is an inevitable trend, similar to the ASIAD or the Olympics. As the cost of organizing the Games continues to rise, television rights can become a practical source of revenue to support the host country.

However, the SEA Games are still a regional event, with large differences in financial capacity and television market share between countries. If reasonable prices and a fair distribution model are not established, commercialization may cause many stations to not participate, affecting the coverage and image of the Games.

With the 33rd SEA Games, it is certainly difficult for Vietnamese broadcasters to ignore the television copyright of this playground. Vietnam is a country with a large number of SEA Games viewers in the region, so ensuring broadcasting services for the audience is an important task. Of course, the fee is the most concerned issue. Because if it is too large compared to the "endurance" of broadcasters in Vietnam, it will not be an easy problem to solve in "one or two days".

It is clear that the SEA Games are moving from a traditional model to a more professional one, with television rights being a core part. However, the success of this process depends not only on the determination of the host country, but also requires consensus and cooperation in the region, to ensure a balance between commercial development and spreading the value of Southeast Asian sports. That is really the problem for the host country.

Once said "no" to the 2024 Olympic television copyright
In 2024, no media unit or television station in Vietnam announced to buy the television copyright for the 2024 Paris Olympics (France) to broadcast live the content of the Olympics in Vietnam. The reason is that the copyright price is high compared to the capacity of the units while the ability to attract advertising to offset the cost of purchasing the copyright is not high. However, it is hoped that the copyright for the 33rd SEA Games will be at a moderate level compared to the potential of the stations in Vietnam to bring the image of this playground to easily reach fans. (Minh Khue)

Source: https://cand.com.vn/the-thao/sea-games-va-cau-chuyen-ban-quyen-truyen-hinh-i772775/