The battle for the entrance to the living room has ended with the removal of TV clients from multiple video websites?

"This round of OTT rectification by the radio and television will have a great impact on the living room strategy of video websites in the short term, but in the long run, there will definitely be a roundabout route, and video websites will not easily give up the living room entrance layout." said an executive of a video website.

Recently, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television's rectification of OTT has begun to show results: in the Qibo Market and Aijia TV application market, iQiyi, Baofeng Yingyin, Sohu Video, and LeTV have requested that iQiyi TV version, Baofeng Yingyin TV version, Sohu Video TV version, and LeTV TV version be taken offline. In addition, Tencent Video, PPTV, etc. have issued announcements to shut down Internet TV application services. Xiaomi Box, Tmall Magic Box, etc. have all been upgraded, and the original video website brand area has disappeared, and the application store no longer has video apps.

Regarding the strictest OTT rectification orders issued by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, video websites are very cautious, and only say that they "strictly abide by relevant national policies and regulations." The Internet TV that was hyped up last year has cooled down due to policy reasons before it has even formed a climate. But even so, it is undeniable that the living room is a crucial entrance for video websites, and no one can give up the layout.

Without being able to display their own brands on Internet TV, the layout of various video websites has basically become useless. However, the executives of the above-mentioned video websites believe that in the short term, video websites must implement the policies of the radio and television, but it is impossible for video websites not to display their own brands. In the future, it is very likely that they will make a roundabout layout by launching large-screen displays instead of Internet TV.

The content delivery to the license holder is not mature yet, and the living room layout has a big short-term impact

In mid-July, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television interviewed seven licensees and stated that the cooperation between commercial websites and licensees in the form of program service platforms is a cooperation model that the Administration firmly does not allow. The phenomenon of a large number of foreign TV series, micro-films, and online dramas that have not obtained broadcasting qualifications entering TV sets must be resolutely investigated and dealt with, and all of them must be removed from the line. It also stated that the seven licensees have violated regulations to varying degrees. If any of them does not follow the requirements of the Administration, their licenses will be revoked, and if they do not set a good example, they will be dealt with. If all seven violate the regulations, their Internet TV services will be suspended.

Previously, except for a few licensees such as BesTV that have a large amount of content, other licensees such as iCNTV did not have sufficient content resources and adopted the strategy of cooperating with video websites in service areas. For example, LeTV Super TV cooperates with iCNTV. In principle, the content broadcast by LeTV needs to be submitted to iCNTV for review. In the cooperation model, every "super TV" sold by LeTV needs to obtain authorization from CNTV and pay fees to CNTV. That is, the more TVs LeTV sells, the more profit CNTV makes. This interweaving of interests also makes the licensees not strictly control the content of video websites.

According to the regulation, the content of video websites must meet the review standards of Internet TV before it can be put on Internet TV, and they cannot have their own brands. This is an absolute blow to video websites that are competing for market share on TV. Industry insiders said that the current business model of video websites to deliver content to licensees is not mature, and the interests of video websites cannot be guaranteed, so they will not do so in the short term.

In the long run, video websites are more inclined to reach capital-level cooperation with licensees. Currently, LeTV has invested in Chongqing Cable, Tencent has reached a strategic cooperation with Future TV under CNTV (China Network Television), Youku Tudou has invested in Guangdong, and iQiyi has established an Internet TV operating joint venture company, Galaxy Internet TV Co., Ltd., with China National Radio and Jiangsu Television. However, after the capital-level cooperation is reached, no video website and licensee have yet to give an answer on how to cooperate to avoid risks.

Or adopt roundabout tactics to avoid policy risks

Faced with the most stringent OTT regulation, all video websites have not responded much, and are unwilling to talk much about the future layout of Internet TV. Regarding whether the most stringent regulatory order will kill Internet TV with one blow, Zhang Yanxiang, a radio and television researcher and CEO of streaming media, said that the removal and cleaning of the TV version APPs of the above-mentioned video websites is actually the strict implementation of the provisions of Document No. 181 by the General Administration. In the past, there were regulations but they were not implemented in place, the market developed wildly, and violations were common; now the General Administration is seriously rectifying illegal companies and market behaviors. In the future, more non-compliant APPs will be removed from the shelves.

At the same time, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has also begun to pay attention to OTT. According to media reports, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently invited LeTV, Xiaomi, Hisense, Changhong, and 360 to discuss the next regulatory measures for TV boxes. For example, settings are made when the underlying chips are produced, so that users cannot install software on their own after purchasing the box. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology hopes that these market-oriented companies can also cooperate to further control the content played in the TV box. However, the consequences of doing so are that users no longer have the right to choose, and the TV box market will face a cold winter.

The executives of the above-mentioned video websites said that in the short term, video websites are greatly affected. But in the long run, TV screens are very important traffic entrances, and video websites will never give up easily. Faced with the unfavorable situation that video websites cannot set up brand zones on TV, the most likely solution is that hardware manufacturers will no longer produce Internet TVs in the future, but will produce large-screen computer monitors to directly move computers into the living room.

Despite increasingly strict regulation, the industry generally believes that Internet TV will subvert the traditional TV industry. You Wenkui, former head of the strategic development department of CNTV Future TV Co., Ltd., and Hu Yong, professor of the School of Journalism and Communication of Peking University, jointly wrote an article pointing out that the future TV industry will change from a transmission channel to the public Internet, traditional cable TV and satellite TV will be marginalized, and the popularization of mobile broadband will make video transmission ubiquitous.

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.