Industry insiders analyzed that "due to the massive amount of content and its autonomy, this has made traditional TV stations extremely nervous. Also, due to the mixed quality of Internet content and issues regarding copyright disputes, it is understandable that the broadcasting department would impose strict supervision."
Insiders pointed out that Internet TV conforms to market demands and has a broad prospect. Currently, it urgently needs to resolve copyright issues in order to avoid being caught in an awkward situation of copyright disputes.
"An important reason for the rapid increase in market share of domestic brands in recent years lies in the full development of application-oriented technology, thereby forming a unique core competitiveness," said Yuan Haoran, a researcher at China Investment Securities. "For example, Skyworth's Coolive TV with karaoke function quickly attracted a part of consumers upon its release. Under the circumstance where core panels are controlled by others, domestic brands break through with a full understanding of domestic consumers, fully develop application functions, and form their own characteristics."
In the home appliance industry, the TV sector has always been the most fiercely contested battlefield between domestic and foreign brands. Especially in the past two years, there has been a revolutionary change from a 'three-seven' to a 'seven-three' market share ratio between Chinese and foreign brands. Internet TV is regarded as a historical opportunity for domestic brands to surpass foreign brands once again.
As domestic brands aggressively enter the Internet TV market, they encounter copyright disputes over Internet content. Previously, a technology company named Youpeng Pule filed a lawsuit with relevant courts in Beijing, claiming that TCL's 'MiTV Internet TV' transmitted a large number of unauthorized video programs to users, which could result in their agency copyrighted films being watched and downloaded without authorization by a massive user base.
Under such circumstances, TV enterprises also attempt to completely resolve copyright disputes. Yang Dongwen, Vice President of Skyworth Group, introduced that "the content sources of Coolive come from two parts: one is self-purchased copyrights, and the other is cooperation with websites like Tudou and Xunlei, integrating their audio-visual resources to become a genuine TV content operator."
Copyright Issues Awaiting Resolution
Han Qing, Vice President of TCL Group and General Manager of the China Business Center, stated: "The rise of Internet TV, compared to the transition from black-and-white TVs to color TVs, and CRTs to flat panels, holds even greater significance. It will be a major transformation unseen in the TV industry for decades, and among these, the true forces that dominate the fate of the TV industry will be China's TV giants."
Currently, the proportion of new product models launched by domestic and foreign brands in the Internet TV sector has reached a 7:3 ratio. Compared to foreign brand products, domestic Internet TVs have more comprehensive functions and relatively reasonable cost-performance ratios, thus maintaining a leading market share in the industry.
Since the beginning of 2010, "TVs that can access the Internet" - Internet TVs - have become the hottest term in the TV industry. Domestic brands such as Skyworth and TCL have launched new Internet TV models, with some companies even announcing that Internet TV will become a standard feature, equipping all new products with this function.
According to Wen Jianping, Deputy General Manager of AVC Consulting, the advent of Internet TV represents a once-in-a-lifetime industrial opportunity for China's TV enterprises.
Development Opportunities for Domestic Brands
Reported by Chen Jing
Wen Jianping believes that the emergence of Internet TV indicates that the current industry has begun to try breaking out of the vicious cycle of traditional price wars, shifting the main focus from single-level cost and price competition to implementing application technology innovation and upgrading product structures. This creates conditions for enterprises to implement new development model innovations and enhance profitability.
According to AVC Consulting's monitoring, the market retail volume share of Internet TVs in China's TV market has exceeded 20%. It is estimated that the growth rate of Internet TVs in 2010 will exceed 50%, and the sales volume share will reach more than 35% of the overall LCD TV market. This means that the scale of China's Internet LCD TV market in 2010 will exceed 30 billion yuan.
Despite a bright future, Internet TV must confront copyright issues for TV manufacturers, resolving the awkwardness surrounding copyright problems.