The Puzzle: One Suspect, Two Names
A search for “short tv” in an app store brings up a swarm of look-alike apps, the press history of a Chinese studio and, somewhere in the middle, a hit app named ShortMax. The case this file tries to untangle is that very knot. In simple terms, the working hypothesis holds that the ShortTV brand watch Second Chance short reels announced by a Chinese producer for the US, Canada and Australia and the app currently sold as ShortMax are one and the same. No official rename announcement has turned up, so this theory, though strong, is not proven. Instead of taking anyone’s word for it, we will walk through the public records one clue at a time. The force comes from how neatly the clues line up, because each one is small on its own. More usefully, by the end you should be able to steer clear of installing the wrong short tv drama app, as well as judge the claim yourself.
The First Clue: The Android Package ID
Every Android app has a package name: a fixed internal ID that seldom changes even when the store title does. On Google Play, ShortMax’s listing uses the package live.shorttv.apps. It is an strange choice for a brand called ShortMax, unless the app started life under another name. App developers usually choose the package ID at the very beginning, before marketing settles on a final title. For that reason, a package that spells out “shorttv” is precisely the kind of fingerprint that survives a rebrand. Anyone can confirm this clue in seconds, because the ID also shows up in the web address of the Play listing. The package name, by itself, does not document a history; it only suggests one.
Second Clue: The Legal Entity Behind It
In the fine print of both app stores lies the second clue. The App Store names SHORTTV LIMITED as ShortMax’s seller. The developer appears as SHORTMAX LIMITED on Google Play, but the legal entity behind it is again SHORTTV LIMITED, with an address in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong. The company’s terms of service are governed as well by Hong Kong law. Studios often rename their consumer product while keeping the original company name, a pattern familiar in app publishing. That does not prove the brands are the same, but it puts ShortTV’s name on the contract you accept when you pay for ShortMax.
Clue Three: When It Launched
The third thread comes down to timing. The Baidu encyclopedia entry dates ShortTV’s launch to September 2023. Google Play gives September 3, 2023 and the App Store gives September 11, 2023 for ShortMax, which arrived in the same month. One product that launched once and later traded under a new name explains the overlap more simply. If two unrelated brands with near-identical names debuting within the same few weeks, that would be a remarkable coincidence. As late as January 2024, a few months after that launch, China Daily was still referring to Jiuzhou’s English-market app as ShortTV. Even so, a shared month is circumstantial, so it matters mainly when combined with the other clues.
Fourth Clue: The Web Domain Redirect
Of all the clues, the fourth is the easiest to check, since it happens in your browser. As of September 2026, visiting shortmax.com sets off a permanent 301 redirect to shorttv.live. At the destination site you can browse on the web the same dramas the app streams. No part of a permanent redirect is an accident of search results; it is a deliberate server setting. Companies usually point a domain only at property they control, so the redirect ties both names to one operator. Nobody has written it down in a press release, but this is still the closest thing in this file to a signed statement.
Clue Five: The Copyright Notice
The evidence ends with a footer. The line “© 2024 SHORTTV LIMITED” shows up on a ShortMax page of the shorttv.live site. The name in a copyright notice is usually the one that actually owns the content and the site. The pattern is hard to read any other way once this is taken together with the package name, the seller, the launch month and the redirect. The rename should still be treated by careful readers as likely but unconfirmed. The company might describe its brands differently in the future, and an official announcement of a switch from ShortTV to ShortMax could not be found.
The Company Behind It: Jiuzhou Culture
Jiuzhou Culture, a Chinese short-drama producer, is the company behind the ShortTV name. A pair of overseas apps were launched by Jiuzhou, per a January 2024 report in China Daily: 99TV for Southeast Asia and ShortTV for the US, Canada and Australia. According to the same report, Jiuzhou had made more than 600 mini-dramas for overseas markets. About 80% were dubbed adaptations of Chinese productions, and the remaining 20% were original overseas shoots. As the company put it, the cost of a 70-episode short series ran $100,000 to $150,000. This mix explains why the catalog holds both dubbed Chinese stories and locally shot originals. Over 50,000 dramas in 19 languages are now claimed in ShortMax’s own listing, a company figure that has not been independently audited. Coming from early 2024, those figures are best read as a snapshot rather than a current tally. 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
At this point the case gets messier, because the short tv name is not protected in app store search. Several unrelated developers publish apps with nearly identical titles, and none of them is connected to Jiuzhou or ShortMax. Someone looking for a shorts app from the ShortTV team can easily install one of these instead. Most people never look at the developer field, and that is the only place the differences show up. The table lists the developer names recorded in the store listings as of September 2026. Don’t treat the icon or title as the real ID; treat the developer name as the real ID.
| Store app name | Developer or seller name | Available on | Installs | Connection to Jiuzhou’s ShortTV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ShortMax (package live.shorttv.apps) | SHORTTV LIMITED, Hong Kong | Android and iOS | 100M+ on Google Play | Likely the same app; the rename is unconfirmed |
| ShortTV: Watch Drama Shorts | HUNG LAM INVESTMENT AND CONSTRUCTION JSC | Android | 1M+ | Not related |
| Short TV – Drama & Shorts | BullFX | Android | Not shown | No connection |
| Shortv | Instant Shadow Limited | iOS | Not recorded | No connection |
What It Costs
As ShortTV and ShortMax appear to be one product, pricing follows the ShortMax listing. In the US App Store as of September 2026, the Weekly Pass Pro runs about $19.99 a week, with a cheaper tier at about $9.99. Because the US store lists only weekly passes, monthly or annual plans could not be confirmed. Prices vary by country, platform and promotion, and one-time purchases run from about $3.49 to $24.99. The terms say passes renew automatically 24 hours before they expire, and refunds are refused unless the service is unusable because of ShortMax. Episodes costing up to 60 coins without clear pricing up front are another complaint from App Store reviewers. In its own replies on Google Play, the developer admits that its “free trial” wording confused some users. Deleting the app does not stop the billing; cancellation happens in the App Store or Google Play subscription settings.
Before You Tap Install: A Brief Checklist
Most mix-ups can be prevented by a handful of checks that take less than a minute. The idea is to confirm that you are getting the Jiuzhou-linked app and not a look-alike. Pricing traps also become easier to spot before you start a short series you cannot afford to finish. Because they are unofficial and risky, avoid any site offering modded versions or “unlimited coins”. No special tools are needed for any of these steps, only the store page itself. The list below is worth going through before you tap install.
- Verify the developer or seller shows SHORTTV LIMITED or SHORTMAX LIMITED.
- Make sure the install count on Google Play reads 100M+.
- To see current weekly pass prices in your country, read the in-app purchase list.
- Remember that passes renew automatically until you cancel in your store settings.
- Avoid any app whose developer name matches none of the above, however similar the title.