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The Puzzle: Two Names, One Suspect

Searching for “short tv” in an app store turns up a crowd of lookalikes, a Chinese studio’s press history and, somewhere in between, a hit app called ShortMax. The case this file tries to untangle is exactly that tangle. The working theory is simple: the ShortTV brand that a Chinese producer announced for the US, Canada and Australia and watch A Marriage Deal With The Billionaire the app now sold as ShortMax are one and the same. No official rename announcement has turned up, so the theory, while strong, is not proven. Rather than taking anyone’s word for it, we will walk through the public records one clue at a time. On its own, each clue is small; the strength comes from how neatly they fit together. Even 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.

Clue One: The Android Package ID

The package name is a fixed internal ID that every Android app carries, and it seldom changes even when the storefront title does. In Google Play, ShortMax’s listing runs under the package live.shorttv.apps. That’s an strange 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 typically choose the package ID. A package name 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, because the ID also shows up in the web address of the Play listing.

The 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. The developer appears as SHORTMAX LIMITED on Google Play, while 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, as well, are 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. It 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

Thread number three comes down to timing. Baidu’s online encyclopedia entry dates ShortTV’s launch to September 2023. In the same month, ShortMax appeared: Google Play lists September 3, 2023 and the App Store lists September 11, 2023. Nearly identical names on two unrelated brands debuting within the same few weeks would make for a striking coincidence. One product that launched once and later traded under a new name explains the overlap more simply. In January 2024, a few months after that launch, China Daily was still calling Jiuzhou’s English-market app ShortTV. Still, a shared month is circumstantial, so it matters mainly in combination with the other clues.

The Fourth Clue: The Web Domain Redirect

Clue number four is the easiest to check, because it happens in your browser. As of September 2026, a permanent 301 redirect forwards anyone visiting shortmax.com to shorttv.live. On that destination site you can browse online the same dramas the app streams. Nothing about a permanent redirect is an accident of search results; it is a deliberate server setting. The redirect ties both names to one operator, because companies normally point a domain only at property they control. This is the closest thing in this file to a signed statement, even though nobody has written it down in a press release.

Clue Five: The Copyright Line

The final clue is a footer. The line “© 2024 SHORTTV LIMITED” appears on a ShortMax page on the shorttv.live site. As a rule, copyright notices tend to name the entity that actually owns the content and the site. The pattern is hard to read any other way when this is combined with the package name, the seller, the launch month and the redirect. Careful readers should still treat the rename 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.

The Company Behind It: Jiuzhou Culture

Jiuzhou Culture, a Chinese short-drama producer, is the company that stands behind the ShortTV name. 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. Over 600 mini-dramas for overseas markets had been made by Jiuzhou, according to the same report. About 80% were dubbed adaptations of Chinese productions, and the remaining 20% were original overseas shoots. The company placed the cost of a 70-episode short series at $100,000 to $150,000. That mix is the reason the catalog contains both dubbed Chinese stories and locally shot originals. Coming from early 2024, those figures are best read as a snapshot rather than a current tally. Today, ShortMax’s own listing advertises more than 50,000 dramas in 19 languages, a company figure not independently audited. It is the ownership trail through SHORTTV LIMITED that this studio connects to the ShortMax brand you see in stores today.

The Look-Alike Apps Problem

Because the short tv name is not protected in app store search, the case gets messier here. None of the unrelated developers who publish apps with nearly identical titles is connected to Jiuzhou or ShortMax. The differences show up only in the developer field, which most people never read. One of these can easily end up installed instead by anyone looking for a shorts app from the ShortTV team. The table lists the developer names recorded in the store listings as of September 2026. The real ID is the developer name, not the icon or title.

The Price of It

Because 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 per week, while a cheaper tier sits at about $9.99. It was not possible to verify monthly or yearly plans, as the US store shows only weekly passes. Prices vary by country, platform and promotion, and one-time purchases run from about $3.49 to $24.99. Per the terms, passes are renewed automatically 24 hours before they expire, and refunds are refused 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. Through its own replies on Google Play, the developer acknowledges that its “free trial” wording confused some users. To cancel, use the App Store or Google Play subscription settings, because deleting the app does not stop the billing.

Before You Install: A Quick Checklist

Taking less than a minute, a few checks head off 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. You do not need special tools for any of these steps, only the store page itself. Sites offering modded versions or “unlimited coins” are best avoided, because those are unofficial and risky. Before you tap install, work through the list below.

1. Check that the developer or seller reads SHORTTV LIMITED or SHORTMAX LIMITED.
2. Confirm that the install count on Google Play sits 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.