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The Mystery: One Suspect, Two Names

Searching for „short tv“ in an app store brings up a crowd of lookalikes, a Chinese studio’s press history and, somewhere in between, a hit app named ShortMax. This tangle is the case this case file sets out to untangle. Put simply, the www.reelshorts.org/where-to-watch/revenge-of-luna working hypothesis says 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 turned up, so this theory, while strong, is not proven. That is why we will go through the public records one clue at a time instead of taking anyone’s word for it. Each clue is small on its own, and the weight comes from how neatly they line up. By the end, you should be able to judge the claim yourself and, more usefully, steer clear of installing the wrong short tv drama app.

The First Clue: The Package Name on Android

A package name is a fixed internal ID that every Android app carries, and it rarely changes even when the storefront title does. The package live.shorttv.apps is the one ShortMax’s Google Play listing uses. It is an odd choice for a brand called ShortMax, unless the app started life under another name. Right at the start, before marketing settles on a final title, developers usually pick the package ID. The sort of fingerprint that survives a rebrand is therefore a package that spells out „shorttv“. However, a package name on its own only suggests a history but does not document one. The ID also shows up in the web address of the Play listing, so anyone can confirm this clue in seconds.

Clue Two: The Entity on Record

Clue number two is found in the fine print of both app stores. ShortMax’s seller on the App Store is SHORTTV LIMITED. Over on Google Play the developer is shown as SHORTMAX LIMITED, while the legal entity behind it is again SHORTTV LIMITED, with an address in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong. Its terms of service are also governed by Hong Kong law. In app publishing, it is a familiar pattern for a studio to rename its consumer product while keeping the original company name. This does not prove the brands are the same, but it puts ShortTV’s name on the contract you accept when you pay for ShortMax.

Third Clue: The Month of Launch

The timing is the third thread. ShortTV’s launch is dated to September 2023 in Baidu’s encyclopedia entry. That same month, ShortMax appeared: Google Play gives September 3, 2023 and the App Store lists September 11, 2023. A single product that launched once and later traded under a new name explains the overlap more simply. Nearly identical names on two unrelated brands debuting within the same few weeks would make for a striking coincidence. Only a few months after that launch, in January 2024, China Daily was still calling Jiuzhou’s English-market app ShortTV. Still, a shared month is circumstantial, which is why it matters mainly in combination with the other clues.

Clue Four: The Domain Redirect

Clue number four is the easiest to check, because it happens in your browser. As of September 2026, a permanent 301 redirect takes visitors of shortmax.com to shorttv.live. The same dramas the app streams are available to browse on the destination site in a web browser. Because companies normally point a domain only at property they control, the redirect ties both names to one operator. No part of a permanent redirect is an accident of search results; it is a deliberate server setting. Nobody has written it down in a press release, yet it is still the closest thing in this file to a signed statement.

The Fifth Clue: The Copyright Footer

The evidence ends with a footer. The entity named in a copyright notice is usually the one 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. The company may describe its brands differently in the future, and no official announcement of a switch from ShortTV to ShortMax could be found.

Who Is Behind It: Jiuzhou Culture

Behind the ShortTV name is Jiuzhou Culture, a Chinese short-drama producer. According to a January 2024 report in China Daily, Jiuzhou launched two overseas apps: 99TV for Southeast Asia and ShortTV for the US, Canada and Australia. Per that same report, Jiuzhou had made 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 cost, by the company’s own figures, $100,000 to $150,000. That mix is why the catalog holds both dubbed Chinese stories and locally shot originals. More than 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 numbers are best read as a snapshot rather than a current tally. This studio is connected to the ShortMax brand you see in stores today by the ownership trail through SHORTTV LIMITED.

The Look-Alike Apps Problem

Because the short tv name is not protected in app store search, the case becomes messier at this point. None of the apps with nearly identical titles from several unrelated developers is connected to Jiuzhou or ShortMax. Any one of these can easily end up installed instead by someone looking for a shorts app from the ShortTV team. Only the developer field, which most people never read, shows the differences. Developer names as recorded in the store listings are listed in the table as of September 2026. Don’t treat the icon or title as the real ID; the developer name is the real ID.

What It Costs

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 a week, while a cheaper tier sits at about $9.99. Prices vary by country, platform and promotion, and one-time purchases run from about $3.49 to $24.99. Because the US store lists only weekly passes, monthly or yearly plans could not be verified. Per the terms, passes are renewed 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. Its „free trial“ wording confused some users, as the developer’s own replies on Google Play admit. The App Store or Google Play subscription settings are where cancelling happens, and deleting the app does not stop the billing.

Before Installing: A Short Checklist

A few quick checks take less than a minute and prevent most mix-ups. The aim is to confirm 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. Any site offering modded versions or „unlimited coins“ is offering something unofficial and risky, so stay away from it. None of these steps requires special tools, only the store page itself. Before you tap install, go through the list below.

1. Verify the developer or seller reads SHORTTV LIMITED or SHORTMAX LIMITED.
2. Confirm 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 renew automatically until you cancel in your store settings.
5. Avoid any app whose developer name matches none of the above, however similar the title.