8 questions to help you understand the live broadcast license issued by the radio and television: small and medium-sized platforms face a life-and-death test!

Even among the mainstream live streaming platforms , only some have the "Internet Audiovisual Certificate" issued by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.

As the government launches the "strictest" supervision, live streaming platform websites may face a round of reshuffle, especially small and medium-sized live streaming websites will face a life-and-death test.

On September 9, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Management of Online Audiovisual Program Live Broadcast Services", reiterating relevant regulations and requiring online audiovisual program live broadcast organizations to carry out live broadcast services in accordance with the law. This is what the industry calls the need for live streaming organizations to “hold a license to work.”

How big is the shock wave of this "Notice"? The Paper interviewed people and analysts in the live streaming industry and compiled eight questions and answers to try to clarify the impact of the "Notice."

1. What did the notice mainly say?

(1) Live broadcasting organizations must hold an "Information Network Audiovisual Program Transmission License" and have relevant licensing items.

(2) Without approval, no organization or individual may use the proprietary names of radio and television such as "TV station", "radio station", "radio station", "TV" etc. on the Internet;

(3) Before launching a live broadcast activity, relevant information should be reported to the local press, publication, radio, film and television administrative department at or above the provincial level for record;

(4) Live broadcast content should consciously avoid vulgar content, excessive entertainment, the promotion of materialism and the pursuit of luxury.

2. Which live broadcast organizations have the "License"?

According to the website of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, as of May 31, 2016, the Administration had issued a total of 588 licenses. These certified organizations include news and publishing, enterprises, institutions, websites, etc.

Based on the registration disclosures and internal information of various live streaming websites, CICC has compiled the following table. It can be seen that only some live streaming platforms such as YY, Yingke , and Huya have the "License", while many live streaming platforms such as Douyu , Huajiao, and Panda TV have not been found to have a license.

An overview of the qualifications of mainstream live streaming organizations. Source: CICC report

As of press time, these "unlicensed" live streaming platforms have not commented.

3. Can you start working just by holding a certificate?

Institutions that do not hold a "License" are prohibited from opening Internet live broadcast rooms to conduct live broadcast business in the form of personal online performances.

Those who hold a "license" must also obtain relevant business permits before they can conduct certain businesses. The "License" is divided into four categories with a total of 17 business categories, of which two involve live broadcasting. One is the live audio and video broadcast of major political, military, economic, social, cultural, sports and other activities and events through the Internet. For this, a "License" must be held and the licensed project is the fifth item of the first category Internet audio-visual program service; the other is the live audio and video broadcast of general social group cultural activities, sports events and other organized activities through the Internet. For this, a "License" must be held and the licensed project is the seventh item of the second category Internet audio-visual program service.

4. What should be done with live broadcasting organizations that use proprietary radio and television names such as “TV station,” “radio station,” “radio station,” and “TV” to conduct business?

The mainstream live broadcast organizations subject to this restriction include Panda TV, Huya TV, Douyu TV, Quanmin TV, Zhanqi TV , etc.

The CICC report believes that this requirement will have little actual impact on live broadcast organizations. "XX TV" can continue to conduct business by changing its name to "XX Live Broadcast", and the core threshold is still "holding a license to work."

The name involves a live broadcast platform with the word “TV” in it. Source: CICC

5. Which live broadcast organizations are affected?

CICC's report stated that most emerging Internet companies do not have a license, and even if they do, most of the license items do not cover Item 7 of the second category.

In addition, the notice also mentioned that live broadcast organizations should report relevant information to the local provincial level or above press, publication, radio, film and television administrative departments for filing before conducting live broadcast activities.

An industry insider who declined to be named said that this requirement would not have much impact on large companies, but for small and medium-sized companies and companies embarking on the path of entrepreneurship , it would basically cut off their path to survival.

To sum up, the "hardest hit areas" affected by this notice are companies whose original businesses are mainly social , shopping, etc., and which have added live streaming business to divert or monetize traffic, as well as newly opened startups.

6. How to obtain a license? Is it difficult?

Answer: The CICC report believes that it is difficult. According to the "Service Guide for Approval Matters" of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, the main difficulties for startup companies that are the main operating organizations of live broadcast platforms are: 1) New applicants are now required to be "wholly state-owned or state-controlled entities"; 2) The registered capital should be more than 10 million yuan. For institutions that have obtained a license but do not have a corresponding licensing project, it is relatively easy to further apply for a corresponding licensing project.

Large live streaming platforms may try to apply for certification or obtain licenses through cooperation; some emerging entrepreneurial platforms may give up this market.

It depends on the enforcement strength of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. Historically, in 2008, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television conducted three spot checks on Internet audio-visual program service units, and ordered or warned a series of websites that did not obtain the "Information Network Audio-visual Program Transmission License" and engaged in Internet audio-visual program services without authorization to stop.

7. Who is in charge of the live streaming platform?

Most mainstream platforms hold an Internet Culture Operation License issued by the Ministry of Culture.

Now it seems that the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, which issues the "Internet Audiovisual License", will further implement its regulatory responsibilities for live broadcast platforms. Compared with the "Internet Culture Operation License" of the Ministry of Culture, the "Information Network Audiovisual Program Transmission License" issued by the State Administration of Radio, Film, Television, Press and Publication requires more conditions and qualifications.

Wang Chuanzhen, an analyst at the Interactive Entertainment Industry Research Center of iResearch, told The Paper that since live streaming became popular in May last year, live streaming platforms have been producing their own columnized content, and the exploration of content has touched upon the business scope of traditional media platforms such as social hot spots, news commentary, sports events, and celebrity interviews. If the risks of such content are not properly controlled, it may have significant social impacts. Therefore, for regulatory agencies, holding one more certificate will enable them to more effectively regulate the content format of live broadcast platforms, and thus do a good job in supervising the correct ideological orientation of online information content.

The head of a well-known live streaming platform revealed to The Paper that the core areas that the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television will manage this time are news, variety shows, sports, and e-commerce , which are mainly under its original jurisdiction. There is still no conclusion as to whether personal entertainment and social live streaming are under the jurisdiction of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.

8. What changes will the live streaming industry face?

According to data from iResearch Consulting, the number of online live streaming platforms in China was close to 200 in 2015, of which the market size was approximately 9 billion. The number of users of online live streaming platforms has reached 200 million, and the number of people online simultaneously during peak hours on large live streaming platforms is close to 4 million.

Wang Chuanzhen believes that the operating costs of live streaming services are getting higher and higher, the homogeneity of business models is becoming more and more serious, and coupled with the various strict supervision and censorship policies issued by the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Public Security and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, the live streaming industry is accelerating its "reshuffle." What is certain is that live streaming platforms are about to bid farewell to the previous brutal competition, and those that survive the market and policy torrents will definitely be more professional and standardized than before.