If we cut off the free live broadcasts, do we still need a TV in the living room?

Popular Science Times reporter Chen Jie

Recently, the discontinuation of free TV live streaming software such as "TV Home" has sparked widespread discussion on the Internet. This means that the era in which you could install a few apps to watch TV live for free as long as you had a smart TV at home is finally gone!

Will the impact of cutting off free TV live streaming apps really be that big?

"Without 'TV Home', there will be no need to watch the Spring Festival Gala on New Year's Eve!" This is the most direct reaction of my neighbor to this matter, which should be representative of the majority of young people. Although there is a sense of loss in his words, there is more of a sense of ridicule. After all, for young people, they have long lost the habit of turning on the TV when they get home from get off work, so don't expect them to install cable TV or use paid live streaming boxes. If there must be an application scenario, it is nothing more than the live broadcast of some important sports events and the "Spring Festival Gala" in every household on New Year's Eve.

According to an official announcement from "TV Home", the reason for the suspension is the regulatory requirements of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television for the Internet TV live broadcast business. In fact, there is always a sword hanging over the head of Internet TV live broadcast, pointing to the fact that the platform is prone to some illegal and non-standard program content. In the series of regulations issued by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, it is emphasized that the Internet TV live broadcast business must comply with relevant regulations to ensure the legality and safety of the program. But for the TV live broadcast software that was originally a non-mainstream one, it is a huge challenge.

Now that the sword has finally fallen, it seems that the dwindling number of live TV viewers needs to reconsider their viewing methods or habits.

After the incident further fermented, many strategies for "watching online TV live for free" appeared on the Internet, but whether it was installing other applications or finding a new way to achieve TV live broadcast through screen projection, none of them resonated with netizens. There is no other reason, these methods either have a poor user experience or are too troublesome to operate.

Perhaps, paid cable TV set-top boxes are their only choice. On November 27, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued a document requiring cable TV terminal systems to enter full-screen live broadcast by default when they start up. "Killing" the annoying startup ads is good news, but the cost is also obvious: the small number of viewers who still watch TV programs will be further reduced or even disappear slowly. Televisions, a major category in 3C, may enter the "era of crisis."

Some people think this is a bit alarmist. In the current consumer electronics field, can you still hear the terms MP3, PDA, card-type digital camera, etc. that were once popular? The only difference is that TVs have not been replaced by other products due to technological iterations, but have been forced to evolve themselves.

When Huawei entered the living room field, it was so foresighted that it renamed what people took for granted as "Huawei TV" to "Huawei Smart Screen". Now it seems to be a stroke of genius.

What is certain is that this smart big screen based on the iteration of the TV will continue to occupy our living rooms for a long time. You can use it to surf the Internet, chat, watch videos, and even control other smart devices in your home, but the possibility of watching TV programs will become lower and lower.