For Vietnam’s many football fans, the first tussle of this year’s English Premier League season is VTV taking on its competitors and ESPN Star Sports to secure the broadcasting rights. The broadcasting rights for the next three seasons of the English Premier League (EPL) are being pursued to varying degrees by some ten companies and television channels in Vietnam. The national broadcaster, Vietnam Television (VTV), has been favoured to secure the rights, but the asking price has given it second thoughts. If it fails to secure the rights to broadcast games free-to-air, the losers will be the many football fans for whom the EPL reigns supreme. (more…)