Industry insiders: It is impossible for radio and television to force the large-scale promotion of TVOS2.0

As the smart TV war is in full swing, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television recently released the smart TV operating system TVOS2.0 and intends to promote it within the industry.

On December 28, a reporter from China Business News learned from multiple sources that TVOS2.0 has become the standard for the centralized procurement of "DVB+OTT" boxes by radio and television cable operators in the four pilot provinces and cities of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Hunan and Shaanxi. However, it is still a long way to go before it can be popularized in the color TV market and other domestic regions. Since it is a non-mandatory standard, the market and users will ultimately have the final say.

Controllability and survival

On December 26, the Science and Technology Department of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television and the Electronic Information Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held the "Smart TV Operating System TVOS2.0 Release Conference and TVOS2.0 Industrial Scale Application Launch Ceremony" in Changsha, Hunan.

Public information shows that the TVOS2.0 system has united more than 60 member units including Huawei, Alibaba, ZTE, and Hunan Radio and Television. It is a new generation of smart TV operating system built on the basis of the integration of Huawei MediaOS and Alibaba YunOS. It has built-in software function modules such as smart home services, media gateways, intelligent human-computer interaction, big data collection, and is equipped with value-added services such as video communications and TV games.

In recent years, the rapid development of smart TVs in China has posed a significant impact on the radio and television system and has also brought great challenges to regulatory authorities in protecting the "green" screen.

In order to achieve "controllable and manageable", the radio and television system has been promoting the independent operating system of smart TVs for 5 years. It has previously launched the TVOS1.0 version, but it was found that there were still loopholes and some people could still "climb over the wall", so this time it launched the upgraded version TVOS2.0.

It is understood that TVOS2.0 has technical restrictions at the bottom level, making it impossible for users to obtain Root (highest administrator) privileges, and therefore unable to install third-party software, flash the device, or watch some free or banned content over the firewall. With its own smart TV operating system, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television can more easily achieve "management and control".

Before the release of TVOS2.0, the TV box market had already encountered several regulatory storms. Since June last year, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has issued a notice to Internet TV licensees to immediately close the download channels of illegal video software in Internet TV terminal products; in July 2014, it required all Internet TV boxes to stop providing TV program time-shifting and playback functions. In October this year, the four departments also jointly issued "Document No. 229" to strictly regulate Internet TV and crack down on illegal receiving devices.

"This is a good thing. TVOS2.0 is beneficial to the radio and television system," said a relevant person in charge of the Hunan Radio and Television System to the reporter of the "First Financial Daily". However, objectively, it is also an open behavior. Now it is a competitive market. "User experience is the most real. After all, in a certain administrative area, it is understandable to adopt some administrative promotion methods, but it is impossible to completely administrativeize it." He frankly said that in the face of the impact of Internet TV, radio and television cable operators are facing survival pressure. Users will judge whether TVOS2.0 is good or not. "This is an opportunity for radio and television to survive."

Full penetration still uncertain

At present, the TVOS2.0 system will only be implemented in some pilot areas.

Wu Chunyong, an expert on the integration of three networks and editor-in-chief of Fusion Network, told our reporter that the "DVB+OTT" set-top boxes purchased by radio and television cable operators in the four pilot provinces and cities of Shanghai, Hunan, Jiangsu and Shaanxi will be required to install the TVOS2.0 system. "In the future, whether smart TVs will install TVOS2.0 depends on the joint law enforcement of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, because the department that issues 3C certification for TVs is the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology; secondly, it depends on whether TVOS2.0 increases costs compared to TVOS1.0."

"TVOS1.0 was originally piloted in four places, and the effect was indeed a bit weak. Whether TVOS2.0 will be expanded to ten or twenty provincial radio and television operators will be adjusted by the competent authorities based on actual conditions." Wu Chunyong said that compared to version 1.0, version 2.0 has done some research and development in live broadcast and on-demand. Since the press conference on the 26th was just a press conference, we need to see the specific products to further evaluate whether it will expand its application areas in the future.

But from the trend, Wu Chunyong believes that from last year to now, the State Administration of Radio, Film, Television, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, National Development and Reform Commission and other relevant national departments have jointly enforced the law, and the supervision and rectification of special industries have become increasingly strong. "Some companies want to play by the rules, but they may have to give up this idea. The joint enforcement has been going on for a year and a half, which means that the national industry standards will follow this standard in the future. Under this premise, companies must have a clear view of TVOS2.0 and have to move closer to version 2.0."

From the perspective of corporate interests, "Changhong, Huawei, Alibaba and others have all had their own smart TV operating systems. The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has introduced industry standards. If corporate standards want to truly grow bigger and stronger, they must align with industry standards. There will be problems with Alibaba Cloud OS system expanding the market on its own. If 2.0 is accepted by all companies, the market size will be hundreds of millions of units." Wu Chunyong suggested that companies use the TVOS2.0 standard to jointly expand the "cake" and then divide it, which may yield greater rewards than going it alone.

Some people are watching and some are active

However, the head of a well-known domestic color TV manufacturer told the reporter of China Business News that TVOS2.0 is just a UI, not an operating system. The SARFT mainly considers "security" and "manageability and controllability" and has not yet required mandatory installation. It is up to the companies to do so voluntarily, including OTT boxes and color TV products. "We have not installed TVOS2.0 yet, we will take a look."

Dong Min, general manager of AVC's Black Appliance Research Center, explained, "So far, it is not a mandatory color TV smart system. Whether it will become a unified industry standard in the future depends on its compatibility, innovation, user experience and recognition."

"Although 2.0 has improvements in live broadcast, on-demand, and Internet applications compared to 1.0, and has restrictions on the installation of third-party software, and is compatible with more smart terminals and has a more friendly interactive interface, it is still not perfect. TVOS 2.0 is still another smart TV operating system based on the Android underlying layer, and it is not a disruptive innovation. Its function is to standardize Internet terminals and applications." Dong Min said.

Therefore, Dong Min believes that the radio and television system cannot force a large-scale promotion of TVOS2.0. Regardless of Android, Alibaba Cloud OS or other systems, what the radio and television system wants is to be manageable and controllable. "It is expected that some companies will install TVOS2.0 on certain product lines. In the future, the smart TV operating systems installed by color TV manufacturers are expected to be diversified and avoid being single to reduce risks. Some of Alibaba's boxes have had some problems before. Recently, Haier and Panda TV have used the Fengxing smart TV system."

Why does Alibaba want to participate in TVOS2.0 when it already has Alibaba Cloud OS? Dong Min said that Alibaba will provide some financial subsidies to TVs installed with Alibaba Cloud OS, including Konka, Haier, Mengpai and other brands. However, TVOS2.0 is an official system and may not necessarily be subsidized. It mainly serves as a demonstration of "manageability and controllability". Alibaba and LeTV are involved because they don't want to "miss the ball". No matter which system is successful, they can "circle" more users; Huawei and ZTE's participation in TVOS2.0 can cross-border into the TV end.

Some box manufacturers may be more passive. Faced with increasingly stringent regulations, some industry voices say that TVOS2.0 "has blinded the box manufacturers".

However, Wu Chunyong believes that as a smart TV operating system with a potential market size of hundreds of millions, it is particularly important to create and support a smart terminal operating system with Chinese characteristics. The emergence of TVOS2.0 will gradually standardize the Chinese smart TV market, which is constantly in dispute, in the field of its operating system.

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.