The Mystery: Two Names, a Single Suspect

Searching for “short tv” in an app store turns up a swarm of look-alike apps, a Chinese studio’s press history and, somewhere in the middle, a hit app called ShortMax. The puzzle this file tries to untangle is exactly that tangle. Put simply, the working hypothesis holds that the ShortTV brand 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 surfaced, so this theory, while strong, is not proven. So instead of taking anyone’s word for it, we will work through the public records one clue watch The Holy Joy King at a time. The clues are each small on their own, and the weight comes from how neatly they fit together. Even more usefully, by the end you should be able to avoid installing the wrong short tv drama app, as well as judge the claim yourself.

Clue One: The Package Name on Android

Each Android app has a package name: a fixed internal ID that rarely changes even when the storefront title does. The package live.shorttv.apps is the one ShortMax’s Google Play listing uses. Unless the app began under another name, that is an curious choice for a brand called ShortMax. At the very beginning, before marketing settles on a final title, developers typically pick the package ID. A package that spells out “shorttv” is therefore the kind of fingerprint that survives a rebrand. On its own, though, a package name only suggests a history; it does not document one. Anyone can confirm this clue in seconds, since the ID also appears in the web address of the Play listing.

Clue Two: The Entity on Record

Clue number two is found in the fine print of both app stores. On the App Store, ShortMax’s seller is SHORTTV LIMITED. While Google Play shows 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. Hong Kong law also governs its terms of service. Across app publishing, it is a common pattern for a studio to rename its consumer product while keeping the original company name. This puts ShortTV’s name on the contract you accept when you pay for ShortMax, even though it does not prove the brands are the same.

Third Clue: The Launch Month

The timing is the third thread. Baidu’s online encyclopedia entry dates ShortTV’s launch to September 2023. That same month, ShortMax appeared: Google Play gives September 3, 2023 and the App Store lists September 11, 2023. A simpler explanation for the overlap is one product that launched once and later traded under a new name. Near-identical names on two unrelated brands debuting within the same few weeks would be a remarkable coincidence. China Daily was still calling Jiuzhou’s English-market app ShortTV in January 2024, a few months after that launch. Even so, a shared month is circumstantial, so it matters mainly when combined with the other clues.

Clue Four: The Domain Redirect

Among the clues, the fourth is the easiest to verify, since it happens in your browser. As of September 2026, anyone visiting shortmax.com is sent to shorttv.live by a permanent 301 redirect. Web browsing of the same dramas the app streams is available on that destination site. No part of a permanent redirect is an accident of search results; it is a deliberate server setting. Companies normally point a domain only at property they control, so the redirect ties both names to one operator. Even though nobody has written it down in a press release, it is the closest thing in this file to a signed statement.

Fifth Clue: The Copyright Footer

A page footer is the last piece of evidence. A ShortMax page on the shorttv.live site carries the line “© 2024 SHORTTV LIMITED”. The entity named in a copyright notice tends to be the one that actually owns the content and the site. Put together with the package name, the seller, the launch month and the redirect, 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 Is Behind It: Jiuzhou Culture

The company 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. The company put the cost of a 70-episode short series at $100,000 to $150,000. This mix explains why the catalog includes both dubbed Chinese stories and locally shot originals. Now, ShortMax’s own listing claims more than 50,000 dramas in 19 languages, a company figure not independently audited. Dating from early 2024, those figures should be treated as a snapshot rather than a current tally. This studio is connected to the ShortMax brand you see in stores today through the ownership trail that runs through SHORTTV LIMITED.

The Trouble With Look-Alike Apps

The case gets messier here, because the short tv name is not protected in app store search. Apps with nearly identical titles are published by several unrelated developers, and none of them is connected to Jiuzhou or ShortMax. The differences show up only in the developer field, which most people never read. Anyone looking for a shorts app from the ShortTV team can easily install one of these instead. 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; treat the developer name as the real ID.

What It Costs

With ShortTV and ShortMax appearing to be one product, prices follow the ShortMax listing. As of September 2026, the Weekly Pass Pro in the US App Store costs about $19.99 a week, while a cheaper tier costs about $9.99. Monthly or yearly plans could not be verified, since the US store lists only weekly passes. Prices vary by country, platform and promotion, and one-time purchases range from about $3.49 to $24.99. Refunds are refused unless the service is unusable because of ShortMax, and passes renew automatically 24 hours before they expire, according to the terms. Reviewers on the App Store also complain about episodes costing up to 60 coins without clear pricing up front. The developer’s own replies on Google Play admit 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 Quick Checklist

Taking less than a minute, a few checks prevent most mix-ups. The idea is to confirm that you are getting the Jiuzhou-linked app and not a look-alike. The pricing traps also become easier to spot before you start a short series you cannot afford to finish. No special tools are needed for any of these steps, only the store page itself. Any site offering modded versions or “unlimited coins” is offering something unofficial and risky, so avoid it. The list below is worth going through before you tap install.

1. Confirm the developer or seller is listed as SHORTTV LIMITED or SHORTMAX LIMITED.
2. Verify that the install count on Google Play is at 100M+.
3. Check the in-app purchase list to see current weekly pass prices in your country.
4. Keep in mind that passes keep renewing automatically until you cancel in your store settings.
5. Pass on any app whose developer name matches none of the above, however similar the title.