Criteria for being granted the License for Provision of Paid Radio and Television Services in Vietnam

Criteria for being granted the License for Provision of Paid Radio and Television Services in Vietnam (Internet image)

1. What is Paid Radio and Television Service?

According to Point b, Clause 2, Article 4 of Decree 06/2016/ND-CP, Paid Radio and Television Service (hereinafter referred to as “subscription services”) means a type of services provided to users by licensed providers to which technologies for control, management and limitation to signal reception are applied.

2. Criteria for being granted the License for Provision of Paid Radio and Television Services in Vietnam

Specifically, in Clause 1, Article 12 of Decree 06/2016/ND-CP, the criteria for being granted the License for Provision of Paid Radio and Television Services (hereinafter referred to as “License for Provision of Subscription Service”) shall be specified as follows:

- Be Vietnamese enterprises.

Foreign-invested enterprises wishing to obtain such License shall have their policies adopted by the Prime Minister of Vietnam;

- Have plans for provision of subscription services according to the development of radio and television services, planning on transmission and broadcasting, and other planning in the fields of broadcasting and electronic information;

- Have a License for Establishment of Telecommunications Network or leasing agreement on telecommunications networks that satisfy technical requirements for transmission and broadcasting to their subscribers (for services specified in points a, b, c and Article, clause 1, Article 4 of Decree 06/2016/ND-CP; have a verified domain “.vn” or defined URL ( for services specified in point dd, clause 1, Article 4 hereof);

- Have the following plans: plans for personnel arrangement, investments in technical equipment; forecast and analysis television service markets; business plans and service charges, estimates of investments and operating cost for at least the first 02 years; proofs of charter capital or the equivalent;

- Have plans for establishment of transceiver stations of all Vietnamese and foreign channels, except for channels specified in the list of channels serving essential political propagation of provinces: including plans for engineering design for signal processing systems, Ethernet transmission equipment, subscriber service controllers and content protectors;

- Apply state-of-the-art technologies which are conformable with the State’s regulations on technical regulations and standards to ensure service quality and information security; plans for handling technical errors to ensure the continuity of the services and subscribers’ benefits;

- Compile a list of expected Vietnamese channels (excluding those specified in clause 4, article 13 of Decree 06/2016/ND-CP), and foreign channels, on-demand programs and value-added content that are expected to be broadcast via paid radio and television channel (hereinafter referred to as “subscription service”) enclosed with the written consent of their content provider;

- Obtain an agreement on locations of receivers of channels in accordance with point c, clause 1, Article 14 of Decree 06/2016/ND-CP.

3. Application for a License Provision of Paid Radio and Television Services in Vietnam

According to Clause 2, Article 12 of Decree 06/2016/ND-CP (amended in Decree 71/2022/ND-CP), an application for a License Provision of Paid Radio and Television Services:

- An application form for the License for Provision of Paid Radio and Television Services (hereinafter referred to as “License for Provision of Subscription Service”) using the forms stipulated by the Ministry of Information and Communications;

- A plan for provision of dubbing services: types, scope of provision of services, techniques for provision online radio and television services and on-demand radio and television services (if any); mode of payment, predictions of rights and obligations of parties to the contract on provision and application of services and other contents specified in points b, d, dd, e, g and h, Clause 1 of Decree 06/2016/ND-CP;

With regard to services specified at Point dd, Clause 1, Article 4 of Decree 06/2016/ND-CP, in case the above services do not provide channels, but provide on-demand radio and television contents, make declaration according to the form prescribed by the Ministry of Information and Communications, including contents:

+ Technical conditions and scope of provision of services;

+ Mode of payment;

+ The process of handling of complaint;

+ Predictions of rights and obligations of parties, prediction of contents provided on services;

+ Domain name “.vn” or defined URL and Internet application that provides services;

- A license for Establishment of Telecommunications Network or leasing agreement on telecommunications networks during the effective period of the license for Establishment of Telecommunications Network specified in points a, b, c, Article clause 1, article 4 of Decree 06/2016/ND-CP; a copy of the Certificate of registration of “.vn” domain or defined URL (for services specified in point dd, clause 1, Article 4 of Decree 06/2016/ND-CP);

For subscription service providers having no telecommunications networks specified in points a, b, c and Article clause 1, Article 4 of Decree 06/2016/ND-CP, such providers shall develop regulation on cooperation with units having telecommunications networks or technical solutions to handle errors and ensure the quality and continuity of the service;

- An application for registration of lists of programs being broadcast via Paid Radio and Television Services under clause 5, Article 21 of Decree 06/2016/ND-CP;

- A certified true copy or copy enclosed with its original for the purpose of comparison of agreement on location of receipt of signals of channels that serve political tasks and dissemination of essential information, except for case that the television and radio services on the Internet does not provide channels.

Thanh Rin

>> CLICK HERE TO READ THIS ARTICLE IN VIETNAMESE