Mass media in Vietnam began to appear in the mid-1960s in Saigon, then under control of South Vietnam, with the establishment of Saigon Television Station. In 1970, North Vietnam, the Voice of Vietnam broadcast the first experimental television program. Beginning from the late 1970s, color television was introduced and broadcast experimentally. Today, television in Vietnam is available in many broadcasting formats, with many national and local channels, broadcast or pay-per-view with more than 200 channels available to viewers. The country began switching off all analog signals in major cities beginning August 2016, in 21 provinces on 30 June 2020, and extended it nationwide on 28 December, shutting down all remaining analog broadcasts.
Mass media in Vietnam is considered a type of journalism, managed under the Press Law of the Ministry of Information and Communications of Vietnam, according to which the law does not allow private businesses to own television stations, but "is allowed to associate in journalistic activities with other press agencies, legal entities, and individuals with business registrations that are appropriate to the field of association", allowing private units to cooperate with broadcasters operated by the Government of Vietnam, creating the policy of television socialization.
Television is currently one of the largest mass media channels in Vietnam, as surveys show that 8 out of 10 people watch television daily. However, television is being challenged by new forms of media, witnessing a decline in revenues as well as a shift in audiences to services such as video on demand or social networks on the Internet.
History 1965–1975: The beginning of mass media in Vietnam In the South Television was first introduced in October 1959 in the Republic of Vietnam during an exhibition in Saigon. In this pilot program, the artists sat in the military microphone studio, and the audience watched through two screens located in the exhibition center from 19:30 to 20:30 every day. The weekly newspaper Cinema published in November 1959 said: "Once a television station is established, we believe that there will be a lot of people buying televisions so that they can keep up with the television broadcast programs."Sài Gòn: Dòng sông tuổi thơ - Lê Văn Nghĩa (Nhà xuất bản Trẻ, 2016, pages 86-87
In 1965, Saigon Television Station, the first television station of Vietnam, was officially established. On 22 January 1966, the first television program was broadcast, and then officially aired in the South on 7 February. The station broadcast black-and-white television with the FCC television technical standards alongside a 4.5 MHz voice modulation.
In the early days, due to the lack of television towers, broadcasting was done with stratovision. All programs, including news, would be recorded on magnetic tapes, and then transferred onto the four-engine Super Constellation aircraft. Every evening, this aircraft carrying equipment would leave the Tan Son Nhat Airport to a stable altitude of 3,150 metres at a location about 32 km southeast of Saigon, and from there flew on an unchanged, nightly repeating route at a steady speed of 271 km/h. Television signals from helicopters could then be received in places as far away from Saigon as Da Nang, Ca Mau or Phnom Penh, but only Saigon and the neighbouring provinces would have the clearest picture and sound quality.
Alongside the creation of Vietnam Television, the United States Army also established its own radio‑television system in South Vietnam, where U.S. forces were stationed at the time. This station was originally called AFRTS. In 1967, it changed the name to AFVN. Broadcasting in English on the 11th frequency band, it was meant to serve American soldiers working in the South at that time. After that, AFVN built a television tower at 9 Hong Thap Tu Street, which was also the station's headquarters. On 25 October 1966, Vietnam's first television tower was completed and put into use, replacing the previous broadcast by helicopter. The tower is 128 metres tall and is where the 25 kW Channel 9 broadcast antenna of THVN, Channel 11 and FM 99.9 MHz of AFVN are located.
In addition to the main station in Saigon, the Republic of Vietnam also had four local television stations in Huế, Quy Nhơn, Nha Trang and Cần Thơ.
In 1972, Dac Lo Television was established. This was a private television company belonging to Catholic Church of the Republic of Vietnam and operated by Jesuits. It did not have its own separate broadcast channel, but only produces educational programs to broadcast on THVN9, focusing on educational content and disseminating knowledge for the people, especially the poor. After the Fall of Saigon, all South Vietnamese radio and TV stations were replaced with broadcasts from North Vietnam.
In the North While television broadcasting of the United States and the Saigon Government in the South was expanding rapidly, it had not yet appeared in the North. According to journalist Hoàng Tùng—former Editor-in-Chief of The People newspaper and Head of the Central Propaganda Department—President Ho Chi Minh frequently reminded officials to prepare the necessary conditions for developing a television industry. In the 1960s, whenever Hoàng Tùng traveled abroad for work, he made a point of watching television in other countries. Acting on President Ho Chi Minh's vision, the Vietnam Television Film Studio was established in January 1968 under the General Department of Information. Its mission was to produce 16‑millimetre television films for foreign broadcasters, mainly about the Vietnam War, while simultaneously laying the groundwork for a future national television industry.
That year, during an international reception, Ho Chi Minh asked cinematographer Phan The Hung: "When will you let our people watch television?" He emphasized that producing films to send abroad was not enough; what mattered was creating television broadcasts that the Vietnamese people themselves could see. The government even planned to allocate a plot of land near Chùa Bộc in Hanoi for the General Department of Information to build a television station, but the plan could not be realized at that time.
To prepare for the experimental television broadcast, a television preparation team was established with the requirements of building a minimum television technical infrastructure, including a studio with electronic cameras, television transmitters, antennas television receiver, etc. The Voice of Vietnam had sent a number of officials to Cuba and other Socialist countries to study about television broadcasting. Meanwhile, VOV initiated several television experiments with improved radio equipment, converting two radio transmitters into one video and one voice transmitter, and self-assembled two usabled super orthicon cameras from Moscow Television and named them as Heaven Horse. This name is derived from the name of the homemade gun, used by the Liberation Army of South Vietnam in combat. The two cameras, model numbers NT1 and NT2 respectively, could produce images despite some incomplete features.
On the evening of 7 September 1970, the first signals of VOV's television service were transmitted from VOV Studio headquarters: M at 58 Quán Sứ Street, Hanoi. In 1971, VOV established its television department Television Editorial Board, the predecessor of Vietnam Television. In the night of Lunar New Year's Day 1971, VOV broadcast its first experimental television program, serving the capital city of Hanoi. Since there is no storage device, all programs are broadcast live. By 1972, the broadcasting was interrupted due to multiple attacks from South Vietnam and the US, including Operation Linebacker II. VOV was forced to evacuate, and all television signals had been suspended until 1973, after the Paris Peace Accords was signed.
1975–1990: Post-war period and the beginning of color television In the South, after the Paris Peace Accords came into force, all AFVN stations officially ceased to operate and all machinery and equipment were handed over to THVN9. The THVN9 network expanded to cover the whole Republic of Vietnam. The station ceased its operations on the night of 29 April 1975, the day before the Fall of Saigon. After Saigon was captured, Voice of Vietnam and the Liberation Station A, together with Liberation Station B in the Southeast region took over the entire radio and television system left by the old regime. Saigon Television Station was renamed Liberation Television Station and began airing again on the evening of 1 May 1975. At the same time, Dac Lo Television became the second campus of the Liberation Television Station and resumed operation on 3 October 1975. Until 2 July 1976, Saigon was officially renamed as Ho Chi Minh City, Liberation Television Station was renamed to Ho Chi Minh City Radio and Television.
In the North, in 1976, the Television Center was built in Giang Vo, Hanoi, and from here, television began to be broadcast daily along with the construction of a television tower at Pole 1200 in Tam Dao. In 1977, the Television Editorial Board separated from the Voice of Vietnam, becoming the new Central Television Station and moved its headquarters to the new Center.
In 1976, HTV experimented with color broadcasting. Two years later, in September 1978, THTW also began a limited-time trial of SECAM-system color television for testing purposes, serving a limited number of its existing color television sets. audience at that time. To improve the team's level, THTW also sent a delegation of 8 engineers to practice color television at the Television of the German Democratic Republic for years. In addition, the station also built the Tam Đảo Transmission Station to cover the whole North Vietnam region and support the construction of local television stations.
Although Vietnam used the French SECAM standard as its broadcasting standard, which was used in most socialist states, the broadcasting system in the North and the South was completely different: the North was using the SECAM/CCIR D system. At the same time, the South assumed control of the American system FCC/CCIR M. Therefore, to manage and unify the national broadcasting system, on 12 May 1977, the State established the Radio - Television Committee, an upgrade from Voice of Vietnam. In the organizational structure of the committee, there is the Institute for Research and Development of Radio - Television Broadcasting to study and solve the shortcomings in the unified mass media system, mainly in television. The institute is headquartered in the South to facilitate coordination with HTV, to solve the system transfer to unify the radio and television system nationwide.
As a regional station in the South of Vietnam under the Vietnam Radio - Television Commission, HTV has helped television stations in the southern provinces to restore facilities or build more.