Vietnam cable television channel VTC has announced it will replace Vietnam Television (VTV) as the excluive licensee of Vietnamese broadcast rights to the English Premier League. VTC reached the three-year agreement with ESPN Star Sports, the owner of exclusive broadcast rights of EPL across Asia, and will begin the EPL broadcasts 10 August. According to Thanh Nien newspaper, VTC has refused to mention the value of the rights package, but said that the final sum was much lower than ESPN’s initial offer. "A source revealed ESPN had asked for US$1.5 million per season. Under the deal, VTC can air live coverage of 200 EPL matches along with weekly football highlights and also has the rights to magazine coverage," the newspaper reported..