VTV was established with technical assistance and training from Cuba on 7 September 1970,[2][3] in Hanoi, as a department of Voice of Vietnam.
After reunification in 1975, the former U.S.-run stations in the south became part of the national network, and broadcasting was extended to the entire country.
VTV's regional broadcasting centres are located in Ho Chi Minh City, Huế, Da Nang, Nha Trang (formerly in Phú Yên), and Cần Thơ.
The percentage was considerably less in rural areas, but even the most remote village cafe has a TV and video or DVD player.
Between 19 March and 30 April 2020, as a safety precaution due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, Vietnam Television temporarily suspended the overnight timeslot on most channels, with the exception of VTV1, VTV4 and VTV7, and limited the broadcast time to 19 hours per day.
Accordingly, VTV merged and restructured the station's editing, production and broadcasting units and Vietnam Television Centers in the Central and Southern regions.
[12] On 17 October 2016, VTV5 Tây Nguyên, a channel for ethnic minorities in Central Highlands of Vietnam and another regional variation of VTV5, was also launched.
Aside from news and current affairs programming, VTV1 devotes itself to orchestral concerts, ballets, traditional theatre, ethnic minority culture shows and films.
On Vietnamese New Year's Eve, VTV broadcasts a block of specialised programmes, a special edition of the 19:00 news bulletin, satirical theatrical comedy Gặp nhau cuối năm ("Year-end reunion"), dedicated music shows, and a live broadcast of New Year's Eve celebrations across the country.
The case was brought into attention after videographer Bùi Minh Tuấn claimed that VTV had repeatedly used his drone videos.
On a reportage in the live business news "Tài Chính Kinh Doanh" (Business Finance), first aired on the morning of August 17, 2020 on VTV1, one of the main anchors, Anh Quang had made a remark: "... street vendors, which are considered parasites living on the street..." This made the audience misunderstood the content that the editorial team want to convey while the whole reportage is a view of sharing and sympathy with the street vendors who are struggling to make a living during COVID-19 epidemic.
During the weekly segments of "Chuyển Động 24h" (Motion News 24h) first aired on July 31, 2021, on VTV1, the presenter Dương Sơn Lâm caused a fierce controversy among netizens when comparing people's brains in violation of the epidemic prevention and control distance in COVID-19 with reptilian and animal brain.