The Mystery: Two Names, One Suspect
A search for “short tv” in an app store returns a swarm of look-alike apps, a Chinese studio’s press history and, somewhere in the middle, a hit app named ShortMax. This tangle is the case this file attempts to untangle. The main theory is short reels free simple: the ShortTV brand that a Chinese producer announced for the US, Canada and Australia and the app now sold as ShortMax are one and the same. It is a strong theory, but it is not proven, since no official rename announcement has surfaced. Instead of taking anyone’s word for it, we will go through the public records one clue at a time. On its own, each clue is small; the weight comes from how neatly they line up. By the end 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
Every Android app has a package name: a fixed internal ID that seldom changes even when the store title does. The package live.shorttv.apps is what ShortMax’s Google Play listing uses. Unless the app started life under another name, this is an curious choice for a brand called ShortMax. App developers usually pick the package ID at the very beginning, before marketing settles on a final title. So a package that spells out “shorttv” is exactly the kind of fingerprint that survives a rebrand. Anyone can confirm this clue in seconds, since the ID also appears in the web address of the Play listing. The package name, by itself, does not document any history; it only suggests one.
Clue Two: The Legal Entity
Clue number two is hidden in the fine print of both app stores. The App Store shows SHORTTV LIMITED as ShortMax’s seller. 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. Its 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. This puts ShortTV’s name on the contract you accept when you pay for ShortMax, though it does not prove the brands are the same.
Third Clue: The Launch Month
The third thread concerns timing. ShortTV’s launch is dated to September 2023 in Baidu’s encyclopedia entry. ShortMax appeared in the same month, with Google Play listing September 3, 2023 and the App Store listing September 11, 2023. Nearly identical names on two unrelated brands debuting within the same few weeks would be a striking coincidence. The simpler explanation of the overlap is a single product that launched once and later traded under a new name. China Daily was still calling Jiuzhou’s English-market app ShortTV in January 2024, a few months after that launch. Still, a shared month is circumstantial, which is why it matters mainly in combination with the other clues.
The Fourth Clue: The Domain Redirect
Clue number four is the easiest to verify, because it happens in your browser. As of September 2026, a permanent 301 redirect sends anyone visiting shortmax.com to shorttv.live. Browsing on the web of the same dramas the app streams is available on that destination site. Nothing about a permanent redirect is an accident of search results; it is a deliberate server setting. The redirect links both names to one operator, since companies usually point a domain only at property they control. Even though nobody has written it down in a press release, it is the closest thing in this file to a signed statement.
Clue Five: The Copyright Line
The trail ends with a footer. The line “© 2024 SHORTTV LIMITED” shows up on a ShortMax page on the shorttv.live site. Copyright notices tend to name the entity 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. That said, careful readers should treat the rename as likely but unconfirmed. No one 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. Per a January 2024 report in China Daily, Jiuzhou launched two overseas apps: 99TV for Southeast Asia and ShortTV for the US, Canada and Australia. The same report stated Jiuzhou had produced more than 600 mini-dramas for overseas markets. Of these titles, about 80% were dubbed adaptations of Chinese productions, whereas the remaining 20% were original overseas shoots. The company put the cost of a 70-episode short series at $100,000 to $150,000. Dubbed Chinese stories as well as locally shot originals sit in the catalog, which that mix explains. Today, ShortMax’s own listing claims more than 50,000 dramas in 19 languages, but this company figure has not been independently audited. Coming from early 2024, those numbers are best read as a snapshot rather than a current tally. This studio is linked to the ShortMax brand you see in stores today through the ownership trail that runs through SHORTTV LIMITED.
The Trouble With Look-Alike Apps
At this point the case gets messier, because the short tv name is not protected in app store search. None of the apps with nearly identical titles from several unrelated developers is connected to Jiuzhou or ShortMax. Any one of these can easily get installed instead by anyone looking for a shorts app from the ShortTV team. The differences show up only in the developer field, which most people never read. 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; the developer name is the real ID.
| App name in store | Seller or developer | Platforms | Install count | Link to Jiuzhou’s ShortTV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ShortMax (package live.shorttv.apps) | SHORTTV LIMITED, Hong Kong | Both iOS and Android | 100M+ via Google Play | Likely the same app; rename not confirmed |
| ShortTV: Watch Drama Shorts | HUNG LAM INVESTMENT AND CONSTRUCTION JSC | Android | 1M+ | No connection |
| Short TV – Drama & Shorts | BullFX | Android | Not recorded | Unrelated |
| Shortv | Instant Shadow Limited | iOS | Not shown | Not related |
How Much It Costs
Pricing follows the ShortMax listing, since ShortTV and ShortMax appear to be one product. On the US App Store as of September 2026, the Weekly Pass Pro costs about $19.99 a week, and a cheaper tier comes in at about $9.99. We could not verify monthly or yearly plans, since the US store lists only weekly passes. Single purchases range from about $3.49 to $24.99, and prices vary by country, platform and promotion. Under the terms, passes are renewed automatically 24 hours before they expire, and refunds are denied unless the service is unusable because of ShortMax. In its own replies on Google Play, the developer acknowledges that its “free trial” wording confused some users. Reviewers on the App Store also complain about episodes costing up to 60 coins without clear pricing up front. To cancel, use the App Store or Google Play subscription settings, since deleting the app does not stop the billing.
Before Installing: A Short Checklist
A few checks take less than a minute and prevent most mix-ups. 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. A site that offers modded versions or “unlimited coins” is pushing something unofficial and risky, so avoid it. You do not need special tools for any of these steps, only the store page itself. This list is worth running through before you tap install.
- Make sure that the developer or seller reads SHORTTV LIMITED or SHORTMAX LIMITED.
- Check the install count on Google Play reads 100M+.
- Read the in-app purchase list to see current weekly pass prices in your country.
- Keep in mind that passes renew automatically until you cancel in your store settings.
- However similar the title, skip any app whose developer name matches none of the above.