Turning on the TV to enjoy TV programs should be a normal and simple thing. However, with the popularization of smart TVs and Internet technologies, watching TV, such a simple operation, has sometimes become extremely complicated. In addition, once it is turned on, advertisements are everywhere, and if you don’t pay attention, you can register various members and recharge consumption, which has also led to a lot of "nesting doll-style" charging chaos. Faced with the pain point of "difficult to watch TV and annoying to watch TV", since August this year, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has jointly launched a pilot program to "control the complicated problems of TV’nesting doll ‘charging and operation".
At present, there are several sources of content that viewers see on their TVs, one is the cable TV service in various places; the other is the IPTV service that telecom operators are responsible for transmitting, both of which can be connected to the set-top box to watch live TV programs from CCTV or local stations. In addition, with the increasing popularity of smart TVs, although TVs themselves cannot directly watch live TV channels, people can order a large number of Internet programs on smart TVs. However, the increase in viewing content has sometimes made watching TV a nuisance.
Previously, some users posted pictures of their home set-top boxes being turned on. From opening the set-top box to the appearance of the homepage screen, the shortest took 40 seconds, and the longest took more than a minute.
After finally turning on the set-top box, I encountered the second problem: I couldn’t find the live TV channel’s page and free content.
Free content is hard to find, the posters on the page are attractive, and some viewers also choose to watch paid content. But whether it is on-demand content in a set-top box or Internet content in a smart TV, people often encounter unexpected "nesting dolls" charges.
There are even some items that are postpaid, deducted directly from the phone bill. Some people often order unwanted products without realizing it.
Watching TV, which used to be a relaxing and enjoyable thing, has now become a time-consuming and expensive annoyance for many people. In recent years, complaints about the fees and complicated operation of TV "matryoshka dolls" have been on the rise, making it a hot spot for complaints about home appliances, according to the China Consumers Association.
Zhang Dezhi, Director of the Consumer Supervision Department of the China Consumers Association: It was originally thought that the main reason was that elderly consumers could not operate effectively. We found that many young consumers are also troubled. In terms of charging, personalized service itself is a good thing, but if it cannot be effectively marked, it will bring a lot of confusion to consumers, and it will also be suspected of infringing on consumers’ right to know, choose and arm’s length transaction rights. Many consumers have given up watching TV.
Since August this year, the State Administration of Radio and Television, together with relevant units such as the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Central Radio and Television Station and the China Consumers Association, has carried out the work of controlling the fees and complex operations of TV "nesting dolls", so that watching TV can return to simplicity and meet the needs of the public.
Feng Shengyong, Director of the Network Audiovisual Department of the State Administration of Radio, Television and Television: The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television regards governance as a political project, a popular project, and a system project, and conducts governance in three stages. From the end of August to the end of October this year, it is mainly a pilot work.
In terms of managing the complexity of TV operations, the first phase selected cable TV in Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Shandong provinces and IPTV in Beijing, Jiangxi, and Gansu provinces for pilot use, simplifying the boot process and making it convenient for viewers to watch live TV channels.
Yu Ying, Director of the Science and Technology Department of the State Administration of Radio, Television and Television: Through our comprehensive and exhaustive research conducted in the early stage, we found that more than 80% of cable TV and IPTV TV users watch live TV channels during 80% of their TV viewing time. In line with the principle of being able to change everything, the first is to turn on full-screen live TV directly as the default boot mode for cable TV and IPTV, requiring operators to control the boot time within 35 seconds, and at the same time do their best to optimize the function of the set-top box to achieve standby startup that can be as short as a few seconds, and provide viewers with a choice of boot mode, so that viewers who like on-demand, review and other services can choose independently.
After the governance, in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, the situation that used to be slow to boot and could not find live broadcasts has now changed a lot. After the set-top box was turned on, it soon entered the live TV screen directly.
In Beijing, Gehua Cable technicians went into the community to introduce the way to watch "minimalist TV" to the community residents.
The complex work of governing TV operations has been promoted across the country on the basis of pilot projects in five provinces and cities. As of now, 80% of cable TV end points and 85% of IPTV end points across the country have been turned on to watch live TV channels. According to a third-party survey conducted by the China Consumers Association, through governance, more than 80% of consumers believe that the convenience of watching live TV channels has been improved, and more users have begun to return to TV to watch live channels.
Song Qizhu, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairperson of China Radio and Television Network Group Co., Ltd.: The boot time of all upgradable cable TV set-top boxes in the country has been compressed to less than 35 seconds, all of which have realized the function of booting into live broadcast, and the proportion of live broadcast windows on on-demand pages has also exceeded 40%, strengthening the attributes of cable TV public services. Through governance, the cable TV industry has seen obvious results. The daily boot time of cable TV users across the country has increased by 4.3%, and the number of DAUs has increased by 6.21%.
In addition to making watching TV easier, it is also necessary to make on-demand charges more clear. In terms of solving the problem of TV "nesting dolls" charging, the first phase of governance selected 7 pilots including Beijing Gehua Cable, which mainly aimed at three aspects: TV charging packages, charging subjects, and opaque charging.
Feng Shengyong, Director of the Network Audiovisual Department of the State Administration of Radio, Television and Television: Looking at the task of reducing the charging package, there were 23 charging packages at the end point of a certain TV, and the content in each package needs to be paid. For example, the eight of the film and television categories are merged into one film and television VIP. Another particularly outstanding feature is that after the merger of these charging packages, the quality is basically improved without raising the price, that is, the existing users who buy small packages and spend less money automatically upgrade to watch the content of the big package, safeguarding the rights and interests of users. In the end, the reduction ratio of these 23 charging packages reached 78%, far exceeding our target of 40%.
According to the governance requirements, all TV large-screen pages must have a free zone entrance on the first screen of the homepage; for single-piece paid content, the zone entrance should be set in the navigation bar; all paid programs must be clearly marked, and all purchased content needs to be set with a prominent unselect option. In addition, all application downloads must be concentrated in the "Application Center" and cannot be mixed in the content page. All subscription content can be inquired on the order information page. At present, all pilot units have completed rectification, and the seven pilot fee packages have been reduced by more than 50%.
As of the end of October, according to a third-party survey conducted by the China Consumers Association, more than 80% of consumers in the pilot areas of controlling TV "nesting dolls" have felt that the convenience of watching free content has been improved, and 70% of consumers approve of the redesigned payment process. Clarity.
After the first phase of the pilot, a series of experiences have been summed up in the complex work of controlling the charging and operation of TV "nesting dolls". From November to the end of next year, the follow-up phase of the governance work has begun and will continue to be promoted nationwide.
Tang Ke, Deputy General Manager of China Telecom Group Co., Ltd.: China Telecom has actively implemented the work plan and has fully completed the upgrade and transformation of IPTV, optimized the user operation process, and improved the people’s TV watching experience. We will continue to deepen the upgrade work as required, and provide the general public with IPTV services with richer content and easier operation.
Yu Ying, Director of the Science and Technology Department of the State Administration of Radio and Television: In the future, we will formulate a replacement plan for the situation that needs to be replaced by the set-top box to improve the user experience. We will organize the deployment of software with new functions to automatically display live TV signals when turned on, continue to promote the simplification and reduction of remote controls, promote the integration of TV set-top boxes, issue a series of standards and norms, and continue to promote government supervision, industry and enterprise self-discipline, social and mass supervision to ensure long-term sustainability.
On November 3, relevant units organized a summary of the pilot work of controlling the complicated charging and operation of TV "nesting dolls" and a national promotion work deployment and promotion meeting to summarize the results of the pilot work of controlling the complicated charging and operation of TV "nesting dolls" in the early stage, and introduce the phased plan of national promotion. Watching TV is simpler and simpler, and what should be free is free. Only by making the charges transparent and reasonable can TV return to public attributes and allow everyone to better experience spiritual and cultural products.
EditorsShu Lu Yujia, Zhao Jizhe, Zhao Wenbin
Videography | Xu Peng, Han Wenyang, Pei Yang, Liu Dong, Yu Jie
Editing | Zhang Wenqing, Zheng Yu