The 34th National Television Festival kicked off in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on December 17.

In his opening speech, General Director of Vietnam Television (VTV) Tran Binh Minh highlighted challenges facing both regional and global television industry, especially in the context of the current digital era.

It is essential to turn challenges into opportunities, thus further promoting the industry’s development in the future, he stressed.

The annual festival is to review the operation of the television industry throughout the year, and honour outstanding works.

Over 500 works from 100 organisations nationwide will compete in nine categories including children’s programme, documentary, reportage, science and education, talk shows, exchange-dialogue-discussion, programmes in ethnic minority languages, music and dance, and TV film series.

In the framework of the four-day event, there will be three seminars focusing on the power of breaking news, TV programmes on agriculture and rural development, and new media - opportunities and challenges for television stations in the digital era.

Other activities will include photo exhibitions, screenings of nominated works as well as talks between television makers and local audiences.-VNA