The Case: Two Names, One Suspect

If you enter “short tv” into an app store, you are met with a crowd of lookalikes, a Chinese studio’s press history and, somewhere in the middle, a hit app named ShortMax. Sorting out that tangle is the whole case this file sets out to crack. Put simply, the working theory is that the ShortTV reelshort movies free brand announced by a Chinese producer for the US, Canada and Australia and the app sold today as ShortMax are one and the same. Strong as the theory is, it is not proven, since no official rename announcement has turned up. Rather than taking anyone’s word for it, we will walk through the public records one clue at a time. Every clue is small on its own, and the weight comes from how neatly they line up. By the finish you should be able to judge the claim yourself and, more usefully, avoid installing the wrong short tv drama app.

Clue One: The Android Package Name

A package name is a fixed internal ID carried by every Android app, and it rarely changes even when the storefront title does. In Google Play, ShortMax’s listing relies on the package live.shorttv.apps. That’s an unusual choice for a brand called ShortMax, unless the app started life under another name. Developers usually pick the package ID at the very beginning, before marketing settles on a final title. For that reason, a package spelling out “shorttv” is precisely the kind of fingerprint that survives a rebrand. The package name, by itself, does not document any history; it only suggests one. Anyone can confirm this clue in seconds, because the ID also shows up in the web address of the Play listing.

The Second Clue: The Legal Entity Behind It

Both app stores’ fine print holds the second clue. The App Store lists SHORTTV LIMITED as ShortMax’s seller. Although Google Play lists the developer as SHORTMAX LIMITED, the legal entity behind it is once again SHORTTV LIMITED, with an address in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong. The company’s terms of service, as well, are governed by Hong Kong law. A studio renaming its consumer product while keeping the original company name is a common pattern in app publishing. Even if it does not prove the brands are the same, it places ShortTV’s name on the contract you accept when you pay for ShortMax.

Third Clue: The Launch Month

The third thread is about timing. ShortTV’s launch is dated to September 2023 in Baidu’s encyclopedia entry. ShortMax arrived in the same month, with Google Play listing September 3, 2023 and the App Store listing September 11, 2023. The overlap is more simply explained by one product that launched once and later traded under a new name. Two unrelated brands with near-identical names debuting within the same few weeks would be a remarkable coincidence. A few months after that launch, in January 2024, China Daily was still referring to Jiuzhou’s English-market app as ShortTV. A shared month is nonetheless circumstantial, which is why it matters mainly in combination with the other clues.

Clue Four: The Domain Redirect

Because it happens in your browser, the fourth clue is the easiest to check. As of September 2026, a permanent 301 redirect sends visitors of shortmax.com to shorttv.live. The destination site offers web browsing of the same dramas the app streams. Nothing about a permanent redirect is an accident of search results; it is a deliberate server setting. Because companies normally point a domain only at property they control, the redirect links both names to one operator. Nobody has written it down in a press release, yet this is nonetheless the closest thing in this file to a signed statement.

The Fifth Clue: The Copyright Notice

The final clue is a footer. Generally, copyright notices name the entity that actually owns the content and the site. The line “© 2024 SHORTTV LIMITED” shows up on a ShortMax page on the shorttv.live site. Put the package name, the seller, the launch month and the redirect alongside it, and the pattern is hard to read any other way. Cautious readers should still treat the rename as likely but unconfirmed. Nobody could find an official announcement of a switch from ShortTV to ShortMax, and the company may describe its brands differently in the future.

Who Runs It: Jiuzhou Culture

The company that stands behind the ShortTV name is Jiuzhou Culture, a Chinese short-drama producer. A January 2024 report in China Daily stated that Jiuzhou launched two overseas apps: 99TV for Southeast Asia and ShortTV for the US, Canada and Australia. The same report said Jiuzhou had produced more than 600 mini-dramas for overseas markets. About 80% of them were dubbed adaptations of Chinese productions, while the remaining 20% were original overseas shoots. A 70-episode short series costs, by the company’s figures, $100,000 to $150,000. Dubbed Chinese stories as well as locally shot originals appear in the catalog, and that mix explains it. Coming from early 2024, those figures should be treated as a snapshot rather than a current tally. Now, ShortMax’s own listing advertises more than 50,000 dramas in 19 languages, a company figure that has not been independently audited. It is through SHORTTV LIMITED’s ownership trail that this studio connects to the ShortMax brand you see in stores today.

The Look-Alike Apps Problem

The case gets messier here, because the short tv name is not protected in app store search. A number of unrelated developers publish apps with nearly identical titles, and none of them is connected to Jiuzhou or ShortMax. It is easy for anyone looking for a shorts app from the ShortTV team to install one of these instead. Most people never read the developer field, which is the only place the differences show up. The table below lists the developer names recorded in the store listings as of September 2026. Do not treat the icon or title as the real ID; the developer name is the real ID.

What You Will Pay

Since ShortTV and ShortMax appear to be one product, pricing follows the ShortMax listing. As of September 2026, the Weekly Pass Pro in the US App Store is priced at about $19.99 per week, while a cheaper tier costs about $9.99. One-time purchases run from about $3.49 to $24.99, and prices differ by country, platform and promotion. Monthly or annual plans could not be verified, since the US store lists only weekly passes. Passes are renewed automatically 24 hours before they expire, according to the terms, and refunds are denied unless the service is unusable because of ShortMax. Another complaint from App Store reviewers involves episodes costing up to 60 coins without clear pricing up front. Its “free trial” wording confused some users, as the developer’s own replies on Google Play admit. Deleting the app does not stop the billing; cancelling happens in the App Store or Google Play subscription settings.

Before You Tap Install: A Brief Checklist

A few quick checks take less than a minute and prevent most mix-ups. Making sure you are getting the Jiuzhou-linked app and not a look-alike is the aim. It also helps you spot the pricing traps before you start a short series you cannot afford to finish. Any site that offers modded versions or “unlimited coins” are best avoided, since those are unofficial and risky. Just the store page itself is needed; none of these steps requires special tools. This list is worth going through before you tap install.

1. Confirm that the developer or seller reads SHORTTV LIMITED or SHORTMAX LIMITED.
2. Check that the Google Play install count is at 100M+.
3. Open the in-app purchase list to see current weekly pass prices in your country.
4. Note that passes keep renewing automatically until you cancel in your store settings.
5. No matter how similar the title looks, skip any app whose developer name matches none of the above.