China's top media watchdog unveiled an operating system for TV set-top boxes on Saturday in Changsha, capital of Central China's Hunan Province, marking the government's efforts to strengthen content management.
The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly released the operating system, named TV OS 2.0. The system was co-developed by the SAPPRFT along with more than 60 partners, including technology companies such as Huawei, Alibaba and ZTE, the Hunan Daily reported on Sunday.
Existing TV set-top boxes that do not run TV OS 2.0 might be banned following government promotion of the system, the Hunan Daily said.
The cooperation of leading Internet TV set-top box manufacturers such as Alibaba and Letv, in addition to collaboration with radio and television broadcasting agencies, is expected to make TV OS 2.0 unrivaled.
It is so far unclear whether Android and Yun OS - TV OS' major competitors - will be knocked out of the market in the near future. A Beijing-based insider working for an online video provider told the Global Times on condition of anonymity that this "depends on the scope of management as well as the implementation of related regulations."
In October, a notice on Internet TV set-top boxes was co-issued by the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security and the SAPPRFT, cracking down on illegal Internet TV devices which can provide programming that has not been approved by regulators.
The notice defined any devices and software that can share and receive signals from unauthorized TV networks, including TV set-top boxes and apps, as illegal.
In 2014, the SAPPRFT released the operating system's predecessor, TV OS 1.0, and required cable TV network operators to install the system, Beijing Business Today newspaper reported.
Some are concerned about the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's participation in the release of the new operating system. Chances are that some certification process for Internet TV set-top box manufacturers will be set up as a threshold for market access, said the industry insider.
