TVOS of the Broadcasting and Television Industry: The Road to Monopoly Is Not That Easy

In 2014, as the Internet TV industry entered another stage of rapid development, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, as an important controller of radio and television content platforms, has successively issued a series of regulatory policies and measures for the development of the OTT industry since the beginning of the year. From the "closure letter" for content broadcasting and control platforms, to the removal of TV clients from major video websites, and the comprehensive prohibition of companies from independently developing and optimizing systems, the intervention of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television in the Internet TV industry can be said to be completely contrary to the general background of the openness of Internet TV.

In early March this year, a TV terminal operating system with unified specifications and standards for all OTT products in my country, including smart TV set-top boxes, all-in-one smart TVs, smart media gateways, smart TV converged terminals, and Internet TV set-top boxes, was officially launched. Pilot operations were started by Jiangsu Cable and Oriental Cable, with each company undertaking a pilot promotion task of 500,000 sets each.

At the end of June, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television officially released the smart TV operating system TVOS1.0, and explicitly stipulated that "smart TV operating systems cannot use operating systems other than TVOS." However, although the system has been released for half a year, it is still unfamiliar and full of questions for the media and users.

Monopoly harms user experience

The introduction of TVOS by the radio and television department should have been a favorable measure to the development of the Internet TV industry. Unfortunately, the "stubborn" radio and television big brother said that "smart TV operating systems cannot use operating systems other than TVOS", turning this substantial action to promote the development of the OTT industry into another monopoly drama of "only the officials are allowed to set fires, but the people are not allowed to light lamps".

When the Radio and Television Bureau issued the "Shuo Fa Cai" (closing letter), the stock markets of the broadcasting and control platforms such as Wasu Media and Bestone, which were criticized, not only did not fall, but actually soared in the A-share market. This not only reflects the blindness of stockholders to market changes, but also reflects the users' understanding of the OTT industry.

Although the TVOS 1.0 operating system was released by the Radio and Television Administration at the end of June, the number of users of Oriental Cable TV who installed the operating system was only 30,000 by the end of September, which is far from the promotion task of 500,000 sets. Of course, this also reflects in some ways how highly users recognize the operating system.

Why was TVOS created?

We will not discuss the market significance of TVOS for now, because the booming of the entire OTT market has fully proved the huge commercial value of this market. Apart from those self-developed operating systems that cater to user needs and create corporate value, what is the significance of TVOS? We really need to discuss this.

TVOS, which needs to be enforced, as a broadcast control platform of the radio and television system, can be said to control the broadcast channels of terminal vendors and content providers in the Internet TV industry. Of course, terminal manufacturers can install the operating system on their own smart TV products and Internet set-top boxes to fight against the monopoly TVOS; but for content providers who can only realize user value by placing them on the broadcast control platform, this embarrassing situation of encountering monopoly is inevitable.

At present, all the existing Internet TV products on the market are equipped with the Android system. It is well known how open this operating system is. What can be said is that even if the TVOS developed by the radio and television department is used, users can also flash the system and reinstall a new TV system.

The road to monopoly is not easy

The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television requires that all its cable TV companies' set-top boxes must use the TVOS smart TV operating system they developed themselves. What we know now is that whether it is TVOS or the OS of any other terminal, the OS is actually not just a system, but requires the establishment of an entire complete ecosystem.

In this ecosystem that needs to have sustainable development, how to attract developers to join, how to attract users to try and experience, and how to maintain the user experience are all issues that the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, which is labeled as "conservative, traditional, monopolistic, and dictatorial," needs to think seriously about.

Similarly, in this reality where a large number of counterfeit set-top boxes occupy the market and all kinds of applications and electronic markets are available, how TVOS can win user recognition in terms of price and the product itself is still a question worth pondering.

But then again, as the supervisor of television content broadcasting and control platforms, it is imperative for the General Administration of Radio, Film and Television to develop relevant products that are conducive to market operations.

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.