VTV continues search for K+ buyers

The company is looking to sell 5 percent of its stake in the Vietnam Satellite Digital Television Company (VSTV) on March 10. It is expecting VND63 billion ($2.76 million) from the deal, 3.7 times its original investment.

This will be the third time in two months that VTV is seeking to sell part of its stake. In the last two attempts, the broadcaster wanted to sell 15 of its 51 percent stake in VSTV. Its previous attempts failed to find a buyer.

K+ is popular for its entertainment and sports content, especially international football tournaments for which it has exclusive broadcasting rights in the country.

VSTV was established in 2009 as a joint venture between Vietnam Cable Television Corporation (VTVcab) under VTV and France-based Canal+, one of Europe’s biggest premium television service providers. Now, VSTV has a charter capital of $20.1 million with 51 percent held by VTV and 49 percent by Canal+.

With capital limitations and increasingly fiercer competition in the pay TV market, VSTV made losses of over VND246 billion in 2019, VND265 billion in 2020 and VND194.6 billion in the first nine months of 2021. By the end of September, it had racked up accumulated losses of nearly VND3.75 trillion.

VSTV said it has had to lower subscription fees to compete with telecommunication firms that offer low-cost pay TV services based on their Internet services, and cross-border content providers such as Netflix, Amazon and Facebook. Rampant copyright violations in Vietnam have also hurt it, the firm said.