【People's Livelihood Survey Bureau】
Editor's note:
This is the People's Livelihood Investigation Bureau, which has never been seen before and investigates the changes in people's livelihood. Pay attention to what you want to pay attention to, what you don't follow, investigate what you want to see and what you don't see.
Chinanews.com, December 17 (Zhongxin Financial Reporter Xie Yiguan) "Click on a program, you need to pay twice", "I want to watch a live broadcast, but I can't find the entrance", and now it is becoming more and more troublesome to watch a TV. The emergence of software such as "TV Home" has made everyone enjoy the joy of watching live broadcasts, but with the suspension of these software services, many people have recently begun to seek various resources on the Internet, and some people have almost been defrauded by the Internet.
A few dollars bought a loss and fooled
"The software comes with a live broadcast function, you can watch CCTV, satellite TV and other mainstream channels......" In the face of the inquiry of the Zhongxin financial reporter, an e-commerce customer service who sells live TV software skillfully introduces the product. According to this customer service, many people have come to buy software recently.
At the same time, the reporter noticed that on an e-commerce platform, many live TV software products have recently emerged, and some products have sold tens of thousands. Judging from the comments, most of the buyers are because after the suspension of the service of a number of live TV software such as "TV Home", they are looking for replacement software to buy online.
But the cost of a few dollars does not guarantee the quality of viewing, "unstable, many can't be watched", "only two of the 5 software can be used, and the channel is still very stuck", "it can't be used just after installation"...... Many consumers have left such feedback.
Screenshot from the product question page of an e-commerce platform.
On some social platforms, many people are also looking for live TV sources, which also leads criminals to see their psychology of urgently needing software and secretly peddling risky software.
"Because the live broadcast software at home failed, I swiped a recommended APP on the Internet, but after downloading it, not only did it not work well, but I was always asked to recharge, and then I received an anti-fraud call and was told that the software was fraudulent software. A user said so.
Software that walks on the "edge of the law".
Consumers complained"Ten software,Can't find a good and stable software",Some people asked,Why did the "TV home" suspend the service?
In fact, live streaming software such as "TV Home" is suspected of non-compliance.
At present, the mainland TV viewing channels are mainly cable TV, interactive network TV (IPTV) and Internet TV (OTT), and live TV software such as TV home belongs to OTT. However, the state clearly stipulates that only cable TV or IPTV can be watched on live TV channels.
TV viewing "understand card". Source: Official website of the State Administration of Radio and Television
So why can these live broadcast software watch live TV? According to industry insiders, this kind of third-party Internet TV live broadcast app will broadcast to users by stealing genuine network signal sources.
Zhongxin Financial Reporter inquired about the China Judgment Document Network and found that Beijing Jiashitong Technology Co., Ltd., to which the TV family belongs, has been sued by Hunan Radio and Television Station, Tencent, iQiyi, Youku and other companies for infringement of copyrights, intellectual property rights, and the right to disseminate information on the network of works.
For example, in 2022, the "TV Home" app was sued by Tencent-related companies for providing content related to the events of the 24th Winter Olympic Games, and was finally ruled to stop providing relevant content.
"Live streaming software such as 'TV Home' has taken advantage of the 'marginal area' of the law in the initial stage, and in recent years, it has been gaining some users at a low price by obtaining legitimate resources from other parties to serve itself, which should not be advocated in itself. Tan Haojun, an adjunct professor at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, told reporters that it will also affect the field of intellectual property rights and is not conducive to the protection of genuine resources.
Users have been charging for a long time
It is worth noting that a number of live TV software such as "TV Home" have also been accused of "nesting dolls" charging fees before, which is also the focus of recent governance.
The so-called "matryoshka" charges refer to the various forms of charges that users face when purchasing TV sets or accessing cable TV networks, in addition to paying basic service fees, when purchasing paid channels, on-demand services or other value-added services.
Someone once calculated that if you want to watch programs on TV unimpeded, you need to buy members of iQiyi, Mango TV, Tencent, Youku and other platforms, which add up to at least 1,000 yuan a year, and this is only a membership fee.
Because some live TV software is suspected of illegally obtaining live broadcast sources, the cost itself is extremely low, but in recent years, membership fees have also been introduced, and there are even secondary paid content, which has also caused disgust among some users.
A "TV home" user said, "After installing the APP, I thought that all channels could be watched, but I found that some programs still need to be paid." ”
"How much hope there is before buying a TV, how disappointed you are after buying it. "As the user said,TV and mobile phone can't be used together、Mobile phone screen projection TV needs to be unlocked for payment、TV programs are now charged layer by layer...... The endless money continues to consume the trust and patience of the audience, making people sigh, "Who will guarantee my 'freedom to watch'?"
In terms of supervision, since August this year, the State Administration of Radio and Television has joined forces with multiple departments to govern TV "nesting doll" charges. In addition, many users who use live TV software have recently received an announcement on the TV side, saying that "according to the regulatory requirements of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television for Internet TV live broadcast services, this product will stop serving from now on." ”
"It's hard to watch TV" behind piracy
Although there are many "slots", why can "TV home" still have an audience?
Xiaoyu, a user of "TV home", said that although it was originally considered that "TV home" charges are more cost-effective than set-top boxes before buying "TV home" membership, but more importantly, this kind of live broadcast software has a better experience of use, "You can broadcast live when you turn it on, and it is more convenient for the elderly at home to use." ”
According to the "2022 China Aging TV Survey Report", nearly half of the elderly "can't find" the TV program they want to watch. On the question of "how to solve difficulties in general", nearly one-third of the respondents chose to "give up directly and not look at it".
"The first step to quitting watching TV is to start with the remote control." Due to the complex operation of the design of many smart TVs and set-top boxes, users, especially the elderly user groups, need to operate many steps on the remote control to find the live channel they want to watch, which is very inconvenient to use, and also causes them to "watch TV".
Sheng Zhifan, vice president of the Radio and Television Research Institute of the State Administration of Radio and Television, once mentioned that it is difficult to find the entrance to the live broadcast on the TV screen now, and users have to go through a series of operations. "We have counted that it takes up to 11 steps to find the entrance to the live broadcast. ”
The State Administration of Radio and Television also touched on this issue when it jointly controlled the charging of TV "nesting dolls" by multiple departments.
At the beginning of November, the State Administration of Radio and Television, in conjunction with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Administration for Market Regulation, China Central Radio and Television, the China Consumers Association and other relevant units, held a summary of the pilot work of governing TV "nesting dolls" and complex operation and the national promotion work deployment promotion meeting, at the meeting, it was reported that after more than two months of promotion, 7 pilot units 129 million cable TV, IPTV, Internet TV terminals have completed rectification, and the charging package has been reduced by more than 50%; Eighty-five percent of IPTV terminals have been turned on to watch live broadcasts, and the duration of start-up and start-up advertisements has been regulated.
According to a user satisfaction survey conducted by the China Consumers Association, more than 80 percent of consumers think that TV operation is more convenient and it is easier to watch live broadcasts, and more than 70 percent of consumers feel that it is easier to watch free content due to the reduction of charging items.
Recently, the State Administration of Radio and Television has also issued three radio and television and online audio-visual industry standards, putting forward clear requirements in terms of start-up time, operation process, payment prompts, etc. For example, the default setting of the cable TV terminal system should be "turn on to enter the full-screen live broadcast"; the cable TV and IPTV remote control should have a button to watch the live channel quickly, and the name of the button should be "watch TV". (ENDS)