The Case: Two Names, One Suspect
Type “short tv” in an app store and you are shown a crowd of look-alike apps, the press history of a Chinese studio and, somewhere in the middle, a hit app named ShortMax. Sorting out that reelshorts.org/where-to-watch/the-holy-joy-king tangle is the whole case this file takes on. In simple terms, the working theory says that the ShortTV brand announced by a Chinese producer for the US, Canada and Australia and the app sold today as ShortMax are one and the same. The theory is a strong one, but it is not proven, as no official rename announcement has surfaced. Rather than taking anyone’s word for it, we will walk through the public records one clue at a time. Taken alone, each clue is small; the weight comes from how neatly they line up. You ought to be able to judge the claim yourself by the end and, more usefully, steer clear of the wrong short tv drama app.
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. ShortMax’s Google Play listing uses the package live.shorttv.apps. Unless the app started life under another name, this is an strange choice for a brand called ShortMax. Developers usually set the package ID at the very beginning, before marketing settles on a final title. The sort of fingerprint that survives a rebrand is therefore a package that spells out “shorttv”. Still, 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 Legal Entity Behind It
In the fine print of both app stores lies the second clue. On the App Store, ShortMax’s seller is SHORTTV LIMITED. Over 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. It is common for studios to rename their consumer product while keeping the original company name, a pattern familiar in app publishing. It puts ShortTV’s name on the contract you accept when you pay for ShortMax, though it does not prove the brands are the same.
Clue Three: The Month of Launch
The timing is the third thread. The Baidu encyclopedia entry dates ShortTV’s launch to September 2023. ShortMax appeared that very month, as Google Play giving September 3, 2023 and the App Store listing September 11, 2023. One product that launched once and later traded under a new name explains the overlap more simply. It would be a notable coincidence for two unrelated brands with nearly identical names to debut within the same few weeks. China Daily was still referring to Jiuzhou’s English-market app as ShortTV in January 2024, a few months after that launch. That said, a shared month is circumstantial, which is why it matters mainly in combination with the other clues.
Fourth Clue: The Redirect Between Domains
The fourth clue is the easiest to verify, because it happens in your browser. As of September 2026, anyone who opens shortmax.com is sent to shorttv.live by a permanent 301 redirect. Web browsing of the same dramas the app streams is offered on that destination site. A permanent redirect is a deliberate server setting, not an accident of search results. Businesses normally point a domain only at property they control, so the redirect ties both names to one operator. 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 Line
The trail ends with a footer. The entity named in a copyright notice tends to be the one that actually owns the content and the site. A ShortMax page on the shorttv.live site carries the line “© 2024 SHORTTV LIMITED”. When you add the package name, the seller, the launch month and the redirect, the pattern is hard to read any other way. Careful readers should still treat the rename as likely but unconfirmed. An official announcement of a switch from ShortTV to ShortMax could not be found, and the company may describe its brands differently in the future.
The Company Behind It: Jiuzhou Culture
The company that stands 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. That report also said 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 shoots made overseas. A 70-episode short series costs, by the company’s figures, $100,000 to $150,000. Both dubbed Chinese stories and locally shot originals sit in the catalog, and that mix explains it. Coming from early 2024, those numbers should be treated as a snapshot rather than a current tally. ShortMax’s own store listing now claims more than 50,000 dramas in 19 languages, a company figure that has not been independently audited. The ownership trail through SHORTTV LIMITED is what connects this studio to the ShortMax brand you see in stores today.
The Problem With Look-Alike Apps
Since the short tv name is not protected in app store search, the case becomes messier at this point. A number of unrelated developers publish apps with nearly identical titles, and none of them is connected to Jiuzhou or ShortMax. Anyone looking for a shorts app from the ShortTV team can easily install one of these instead. The developer field is the only place the differences show up, and most people never look at it. Developer names as recorded in the store listings are listed in the table as of September 2026. Do not treat the icon or title as the real ID; treat the developer name as the real ID.
| App name in the store | Developer or seller name | Available on | Installs | Connection to Jiuzhou’s ShortTV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ShortMax (package live.shorttv.apps) | SHORTTV LIMITED, Hong Kong | Both iOS and Android | 100M+ on Google Play | Likely the same app; rename unconfirmed |
| ShortTV: Watch Drama Shorts | HUNG LAM INVESTMENT AND CONSTRUCTION JSC | Android | 1M+ | Not related |
| Short TV – Drama & Shorts | BullFX | Android | Not listed | Not related |
| Shortv | Instant Shadow Limited | iOS | Not listed | Not related |
How Much It Costs
As 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, and a cheaper tier sits at 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. The terms state passes renew automatically 24 hours before they expire, and refunds are refused unless the service is unusable because of ShortMax. A further complaint from App Store reviewers concerns episodes costing up to 60 coins without clear pricing up front. Its “free trial” wording confused some users, as the developer’s own replies on Google Play admit. Your App Store or Google Play subscription settings are where cancelling happens, and deleting the app does not stop the billing.
Before You Install: A Brief Checklist
In less than a minute, a few checks head off most mix-ups. The point 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. A site that offers 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. The list below is worth going through before you tap install.
- Verify the developer or seller reads SHORTTV LIMITED or SHORTMAX LIMITED.
- Confirm that the Google Play install count shows 100M+.
- Check the in-app purchase list to see current weekly pass prices in your country.
- Note that passes renew automatically until you cancel in your store settings.
- Avoid any app whose developer name matches none of the above, however similar the title.