The Puzzle: Two Names, One Suspect

Type “short tv” in an app store and you find 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 takes on. The working hypothesis is simple: the ShortTV brand that a Chinese producer announced for the Found a Homeless Genius to Save My Company US, Canada and Australia and the app now sold as ShortMax are one and the same. The theory is strong, but it is not proven, because no official rename announcement has turned up. So we will go through the public records one clue at a time instead of taking anyone’s word for it. The strength comes from how neatly the clues line up, since each clue is small on its own. By the end, you should be able to judge the claim on your own and, even more usefully, steer clear of installing the wrong short tv drama app.

Clue One: The Android Package ID

A package name is a fixed internal ID carried by every Android app, and it seldom changes even when the storefront title does. ShortMax’s listing on Google Play uses the package live.shorttv.apps. Unless the app began under another name, that is an curious choice for a brand called ShortMax. A package ID is usually picked at the very beginning, before marketing settles on a final title. The kind of fingerprint that survives a rebrand is therefore a package name that spells out “shorttv”. However, a package name by itself only suggests a history but does not document one. Anyone can check this clue in seconds: the ID also appears in the web address of the Play listing.

Second Clue: The Legal Entity

Buried in the fine print of both app stores lies the second clue. ShortMax’s seller on the App Store is SHORTTV LIMITED. On Google Play the developer is listed 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 governed as well by Hong Kong law. Across app publishing, it is a common pattern for a studio to rename its consumer product while keeping the original company name. While it does not prove the brands are the same, it puts ShortTV’s name on the contract you accept when you pay for ShortMax.

Third Clue: When It Launched

Timing is the third thread. ShortTV’s launch is dated to September 2023 in Baidu’s encyclopedia entry. Google Play lists September 3, 2023 and the App Store lists September 11, 2023 for ShortMax, which appeared in the same month. The simpler explanation of the overlap is a single product that launched once and later traded under a new name. Were two unrelated brands with nearly 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 calling Jiuzhou’s English-market app ShortTV. That said, a shared month is circumstantial, which is why it matters mainly in combination 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, a permanent 301 redirect sends visitors of shortmax.com to shorttv.live. On that destination site you can browse on the web the same dramas the app streams. Nothing about a permanent redirect is an accident of search results; it is a deliberate server setting. Since 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 still the closest thing in this file to a signed statement.

The Fifth Clue: 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. Once you add the package name, the seller, the launch month and the redirect, the pattern is hard to read any other way. That rename should still be treated by careful readers as likely but unconfirmed. No official announcement of a switch from ShortTV to ShortMax could be found, and the company might describe its brands differently in the future.

Who Is Behind It: Jiuzhou Culture

The company that stands behind the ShortTV name is Jiuzhou Culture, a Chinese short-drama producer. 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. Per that same report, Jiuzhou had produced more than 600 mini-dramas for overseas markets. About 80% were dubbed adaptations of Chinese productions, and the remaining 20% were original overseas shoots. According to the company, a 70-episode short series cost $100,000 to $150,000. Both dubbed Chinese stories and locally shot originals sit in the catalog, which that mix explains. These numbers date from early 2024, so treat them as a snapshot rather than a current tally. Now, ShortMax’s own listing claims more than 50,000 dramas in 19 languages, a company figure that has not been independently audited. This studio is connected to the ShortMax brand you see in stores today through the ownership trail through SHORTTV LIMITED.

The Problem With Look-Alike Apps

The case gets messier here, as the short tv name is not protected in app store search. None of the unrelated developers who publish apps with nearly identical titles 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 read 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.

How Much It Costs

Since 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 costs about $19.99 a week, with a cheaper tier at about $9.99. Prices vary by country, platform and promotion, and one-time purchases run from about $3.49 to $24.99. Monthly or yearly plans could not be verified, since the US store lists only weekly passes. According to the terms, passes are renewed automatically 24 hours before they expire, and refunds are turned down unless the service is unusable because of ShortMax. Reviewers on the App Store also complain about episodes costing up to 60 coins without clear pricing up front. In its own replies on Google Play, the developer admits that its “free trial” wording confused some users. Your App Store or Google Play subscription settings are where cancelling happens, and deleting the app does not stop the billing.

Before You Tap Install: A Brief Checklist

A few quick 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. Before you start a short series you cannot afford to finish, it also helps you spot the pricing traps. Only the store page itself is needed; none of these steps requires special tools. Stay away from any site offering modded versions or “unlimited coins”, because those are unofficial and risky. Run through the list below before you tap install.

1. Make sure that the developer or seller reads SHORTTV LIMITED or SHORTMAX LIMITED.
2. Check that the install count on Google Play is at 100M+.
3. Read the in-app purchase list to see current weekly pass prices in your country.
4. Remember that passes renew automatically until you cancel in your store settings.
5. However similar the title, avoid any app whose developer name matches none of the above.