The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has taken action again to rectify the seven major licensees, focusing on checking browsers

Recently, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has taken further action to rectify the Internet TV industry.

An industry insider told the reporter of China Business News yesterday (July 9) that in early July, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued an internal notice on some violations of the seven Internet TV integrated broadcast and control platform licensees, requiring the seven licensees to conduct self-inspection and self-correction in accordance with four requirements. "However, the statement that 'rectification must be completed before July 8, otherwise the license will be revoked' is inaccurate. It is not true. At least I have not seen the document."

Since June last year, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has strictly rectified online videos on television, requiring video website apps to be "removed" from the Internet TV integrated broadcast control platform, triggering a rectification trend.

Half a year later, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television found that some OTT (referring to providing various application services to users through the Internet) boxes could still use mobile phones to push content to the TV even if they did not install the video website application. Therefore, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television had four more specific requirements for the rectification plan: TVs and boxes cannot install applications through USB ports; there cannot be a browser that can access the Internet in the system; aggregation application software, video website clients, radio application software, etc. cannot be pushed through application stores and other means; remote control applications that can indirectly control video playback through mobile phones cannot be pushed through application stores and other means.

"These four points are not new regulations, but specific requirements for the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television to implement Document No. 181," said the above-mentioned industry insider. In July this year, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television promoted some rectification work in accordance with these four requirements. Because some violations were found during the previous inspection of the licensees' products, the seven major licensees were required to focus on self-inspection and self-correction of these four issues.

Li Yaqin, deputy general manager of Qunzhi Consulting, believes that it has been exactly one year since the last rectification, and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has inspected and accepted the rectification of Internet TV. With the popularization of Internet TV, the supervision of Internet TV will become normalized. It is expected that this rectification will bring pain to the smart TV industry in the short term, because there is no supervision on watching online videos on mobile phones and tablets , while there are many restrictions on TVs, which may affect consumers' enthusiasm for purchasing Internet TV.

"In the long run, licensees need to coordinate with regulators on how to comply with regulatory principles while promoting the continuous enrichment of Internet TV content. After all, the paid video-on-demand service for smart TVs has just started in China, like a baby in swaddling clothes," said Li Yaqin.

Regarding the impact of this rectification, the above-mentioned industry insiders predict that, first, it will be difficult for video aggregation service providers, such as Taijie, to operate in the future; second, online radio services such as蜻蜓 and Himalaya will also have to rely on licensees in the future; third, the application service platforms of set-top boxes will also have to cooperate with licensees in the future.

A relevant person in charge of a color TV factory revealed to the reporter of "First Financial Daily" that in mid-to-late June this year, "the licensee asked us to check whether the browser had been removed from the shelves, and we had already removed the browser from the shelves."

With the strengthening of supervision, it may have a great impact on licensees. The relevant person in charge of the above-mentioned color TV factory believes that the cooperation between licensees, content providers and TV manufacturers will be closer, because TV manufacturers cannot pre-install video network apps, and "TV is a non-free terminal."

"I haven't felt the impact of this rectification yet," said an industry insider who has been in the OTT box industry for many years. The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has rectification requirements almost every month. If these requirements are strictly followed, the OTT industry will not have a profit model. "It is getting harder and harder to do business. Recently, even the startup ads are not allowed. TV games will also be affected because they are not allowed to have their own Android market."

According to a senior person in the smart TV game industry, the rectification of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television is mainly aimed at videos, not games. However, with stricter supervision, it is expected that the number of ordinary third-party application stores on TVs will decrease in the future, and the application stores of licensees and color TV manufacturers will grow and have greater content distribution capabilities.

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.