Live webcast: Is the regulatory storm coming to an end or just beginning?

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Are the good days of live streaming over?

After the Ministry of Culture and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television intervened in the supervision of "online live streaming", the Cyberspace Administration of China also officially intervened in the supervision of "online live streaming".

Recently, the Cyberspace Administration of China officially released the "Internet Live Broadcast Service Management Regulations", which will come into effect on December 1, 2016.

So, has the regulatory framework for online live streaming been clarified? Or will other relevant departments intervene in the future? Where will the online live streaming industry and live streaming platforms such as Inke, Douyu, and Yizhibo go?

"The live broadcast is chaotic, the live broadcast is chaotic."

This is the current situation of the online live broadcast industry. The former refers to the fact that there are many live broadcast platforms but their qualifications are generally not complete, and the latter refers to the fact that borderline content is becoming more and more rampant in the live broadcast industry, which is full of mixed fish and dragons.

From the initial live streaming of games and singing, to the incident of "live streaming making babies", in the process of online live streaming moving from a niche to the mainstream, more and more problems such as vulgarity and pornography have emerged.

In response to the chaos in live streaming content, the Ministry of Culture and the State Administration of Radio and Television have previously put forward requirements for strengthening the management of online live streaming and live streaming platforms within their respective responsibilities.

Recently, the Cyberspace Administration of China issued the "Internet Live Broadcast Service Management Regulations", which once again set regulatory requirements for news live broadcasts regarding the highly-watched "online live broadcast".

So, with the diversification of live broadcast content and multi-dimensional supervision of live broadcast, where will the future live broadcast industry go? What kind of regulatory pressure will live broadcast platforms such as Inke, Douyu, and Yizhibo face in the future?

Live streaming chaos: Pornographic, vulgar and borderline content is rampant despite repeated bans

From a technical point of view, domestic "online live broadcast" can be divided into two categories. One is to provide TV signals for viewing online, such as live broadcasts of various sports games and cultural activities. The principle of this type of live broadcast is to collect TV (analog) signals, convert them into digital signals, input them into computers, and upload them to websites in real time for people to watch, which is equivalent to "online TV";

The other type is the real "live broadcast": set up an independent signal acquisition device (audio + video) on site to import it into the director's end (director's device or platform), then upload it to the server through the Internet, and publish it to the website for people to watch.

Due to the different sources of live content, "live broadcast of TV programs" is less likely to have illegal or irregular problems, while "live broadcast of self-made content" can easily slip into illegal or irregular situations due to the lack of a pre-content review mechanism.

According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 300 companies providing Internet live streaming platform services in the country, and the number is still growing.

While the number of live streaming platforms continues to grow rapidly, the conflict between the live streaming business model and the live streaming content is becoming increasingly prominent.

As we all know, "self-made content live streaming" can be divided into "performance-oriented live streaming" and "recording-oriented live streaming". The former is commonly seen by various female anchors singing, imitating, talk shows, and action performances through the camera, while the latter is the live streaming of various conferences, activities or events.

Among "self-made content online live broadcasts", "performance-oriented online live broadcasts" are more likely to have illegal and irregular problems. On the one hand, this group of anchors, both men and women, do not understand many laws and regulations. On the other hand, under this model, the anchor's income comes from the "gift sponsorship" of "onlookers". Therefore, in order to attract audiences and increase income, some anchors may "take risks" and perform "provocative" or "explicit" performances.

Simply put, the problems exposed by performance-oriented live streaming are the key to triggering the regulation of live streaming.

At the same time, with the trend of segmentation of live broadcast content, some live broadcast platforms are skirting the rules and attracting attention with low-level fun, some are spreading illegal and infringing content, and some platforms are conducting live broadcasts of news information in violation of regulations. This has become the fundamental reason for triggering multiple supervisions.

Live broadcast supervision: cross-regulation needs to be implemented according to the nature of the content

In the live broadcast services provided by various live broadcast platforms, in addition to the live content itself, it also involves the interaction between male and female anchors and the audience, such as barrage.

Simply put, online live streaming can be divided into mobile phone live streaming and computer live streaming according to the viewing terminals. According to the live broadcast form, it can be divided into text live streaming, voice live streaming or video live streaming. From the perspective of live broadcast content, it can be divided into performance nature, video program nature, news nature or others.

However, no matter what form or content of live broadcast, whether it is the live broadcast itself or the interaction, it involves information services or can be included in information services.

According to Article 5 of the Administrative Regulations on Internet Information Services formulated by the State Council, "Internet information services such as news, publishing, education, health care, medicine and medical devices must be reviewed and approved by the relevant competent authorities in accordance with laws, administrative regulations and relevant national regulations" and "shall be reviewed and approved by the relevant competent authorities in accordance with the law."

Therefore, if live streaming services are regarded as a type of information service, then online live streaming content may need to obtain corresponding licenses when it involves "news, publishing, education, health care, drugs and medical devices" etc.

Judging from the current pace of online live streaming supervision, since the proportion of live broadcasts of a performance nature was relatively high in the early stages of online live streaming platforms, the cultural department became the first regulatory department to get involved in online live streaming.

On April 14, 2016, the Ministry of Culture announced the 25th batch of illegal and irregular Internet cultural activities to be investigated and punished. Douyu, Huya Live, YY, Panda TV, Zhanqi TV, Longzhu Live, Liujianfang, 9158 and many other online live broadcast platforms were included in the investigation and punishment list for allegedly providing Internet cultural products containing content that promotes obscenity, violence, incites crime, and harms social morality.

Subsequently, the Beijing Internet Culture Association organized the heads of more than 20 major companies engaged in online performances (live streaming), including Baidu, Sina, Sohu, iQiyi, LeTV, Youku, Kuwo, Yingke, and Huajiao, to jointly issue the "Beijing Internet Live Streaming Industry Self-Discipline Convention."

In addition, according to Article 2 of the "Internet Audiovisual Program Service Management Regulations" jointly formulated by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and the Ministry of Information Industry, Internet audiovisual program services refer to the activities of producing, editing, integrating and providing audiovisual programs to the public through the Internet, as well as providing others with the service of uploading and disseminating audiovisual programs.

According to Article 2 of the "Administrative Measures for the Transmission of Audiovisual Programs on the Internet and Other Information Networks" formulated by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, audiovisual programs (including film and television audiovisual products) refer to audiovisual programs that are filmed and recorded using cameras, video cameras, recorders and other audiovisual recording equipment and consist of continuously moving images or continuously audible sounds. Among them, the network transmission methods include: opening, broadcasting (including on-demand, rebroadcasting, live broadcasting), integration, transmission, and downloading.

Obviously, according to the relevant provisions of the "Regulations on the Transmission of Audiovisual Programs on the Internet and Other Information Networks" and the "Regulations on the Management of Internet Audiovisual Program Services", online live broadcasts can be included in "audiovisual programs" and managed by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.

Therefore, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television became the second largest regulatory department in the field of online live streaming. Subsequently, in September 2016, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Management of Online Audiovisual Program Live Streaming Services". The notice reiterated the relevant regulations of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, namely that live streaming platforms must hold an "Information Network Audiovisual Program Transmission License" and that organizations and individuals without a license cannot engage in live streaming business.

On November 4, the Cyberspace Administration of China issued the "Internet Live Streaming Service Management Regulations", becoming the third regulatory department involved in the supervision of online live streaming.

Simply put, if the live broadcast content involves current affairs news information such as "reports and comments on social public affairs such as politics, economy, military, diplomacy, and reports and comments on social emergencies", an "Internet News Information Service License" is required.

Live streaming reshuffle: platforms with licenses continue to operate, while those without licenses exit or sell themselves to others

The current regulatory mechanism or model established by the "Internet Live Broadcast Service Management Regulations" basically refers to the reform ideas of the "Internet News Information Service Management Regulations (Revised Draft for Comments)" issued in February 2016, including: requirements for the establishment of editors-in-chief, information release review, and user real-name registration.

As of now, except for platforms such as Baidu, Sina, Sohu, iQiyi, LeTV, and Youku, which already possess one or more of the following certificates: "Internet Culture Operation License", "Information Network Audiovisual Program Transmission License" or "Internet News Information Service License", most professional live broadcast platforms generally face the dilemma of having no qualifications or few qualifications.

For example, the entity that owns Douyu Live, Wuhan Douyu Network Technology Co., Ltd., and the entity that owns Huajiao Live, Beijing Mijing Hefeng Technology Co., Ltd., have obtained the "Internet Culture Operation License", but may not have directly obtained the "Information Network Audiovisual Program Transmission License" or the "Internet News Information Service License".

Article 5 of the "Internet Live Broadcast Service Management Regulations" stipulates that Internet live broadcast service providers that provide Internet news information services must obtain Internet news information service qualifications in accordance with the law and carry out Internet news information services within the scope of the license.

Article 6 of the "Internet Live Broadcast Service Management Regulations" stipulates that those who provide Internet live broadcast services through online performances, online audio-visual programs, etc. must also obtain the relevant qualifications prescribed by laws and regulations in accordance with the law.

Simply put, according to the current division of supervision, depending on the different live broadcast content, major live broadcast platforms need to accept supervision from the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Culture and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television respectively according to the different live broadcast content they provide.

After the regulatory mechanism is clarified, the cleanup and rectification of live streaming platforms will become the focus of the live streaming industry for some time to come.

For those live broadcast platforms that have not yet obtained the "Information Network Audiovisual Program Transmission License", "Internet Culture Operation License" or "Internet News Information Service License", they either need to stop providing such live broadcast content services, or apply for relevant qualifications as soon as possible or "sell themselves" to other platforms with corresponding qualifications.

In fact, some online live streaming platforms have previously chosen to "commit themselves to others", such as LeTV Sports' acquisition of the sports live streaming platform Octopus TV for 300 million yuan, Tencent's investment of 400 million yuan in Douyu TV, and so on.

The unfortunate news may be that, given that there are currently at least 300 live streaming platforms, if they are not expected to obtain the corresponding qualifications or have not yet introduced a large platform to invest, the selling price may not be too high because there are too many sellers. However, in any case, a reshuffle in live streaming is inevitable.

As mentioned above, according to the current regulatory trend, online live streaming is regarded as a type of Internet information service. Depending on the nature of the content involved in the live streaming, it is possible that it may face management pressure from other regulatory authorities in the future.

Therefore, the storm of online live streaming regulation may be far from over and is still in the process of forming.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.