"Why is it so hard to watch TV on the TV?"
Reporter investigates the use of "routines" in smart TVs
● Although smart TVs have increased the range of options for watching programs, there are many problems that have been criticized during the use process.
From switch-on advertisements to member nesting doll-style charges, from inconvenient use, unfriendly to the elderly to after-sales service that cannot really solve the problem, a series of "routines" of smart TVs need to be improved urgently
● It is very common to pay to watch Internet TV, and some consumers are willing to pay for watching their favorite TV programs.
However, how many dramas a member can watch, the cost of membership activation, etc., the merchant should give a clear reminder before purchasing, so that consumers can choose the corresponding service according to their own needs when purchasing, otherwise it is suspected of violating consumers' right to know
● In order to solve the problems in the use of smart TVs, the role of the market should be brought into play, and businesses and advertising operators should be encouraged to undertake social responsibilities while pursuing profits, actively carry out the construction of an internal compliance management system, and consciously reduce or even eliminate some unreasonable and unreasonable legal phenomenon
□ Our reporter Zhang Shoukun
"Why is watching TV so troublesome!"
During the Spring Festival this year, my son sent me a New Year's gift - a super large-screen LCD smart TV.
However, from the moment he turned on the TV, Mr. Zhang Bingcheng, who lives in Langfang, Hebei, kept complaining.
"It is mandatory to watch advertisements when you turn on the TV, and you can't skip it. The various icons on the homepage make people wonder how to operate it. It's hard to click on a TV series, and you have to be a member to watch the entire episode. In addition to the membership of the TV itself, there are also various apps. Members, if you want to watch satellite TV programs, you have to buy a set-top box to activate digital channels. Why is it so hard to watch TV on a TV?"
In recent years, TV technology has developed rapidly from cable to digital to the Internet. Today's smart TVs have greatly increased the range of options for viewing programs after they are connected to the Internet.
However, a reporter from the "Rule of Law Daily" recently investigated and found that there are many problems that have been criticized during the use of smart TVs.
From switch-on advertisements to member doll-style charges, from inconvenient use and unfriendly to the elderly to after-sales service that cannot really solve the problem, a series of "routines" of smart TVs need to be improved urgently.
Advertisement keeps cutting screen at startup
Matryoshka charges if you want to watch the show
"Every time I turn on the TV, I have to watch an advertisement, and when I turn it off, I have to watch it again. Sometimes I have to watch an advertisement when I order a program. I wanted to watch TV, but I was hit head-on by the long commercials." Wuxi, Jiangsu Ding Lei told reporters that every time his smart TV is turned on, there will be a startup advertisement for about 30 seconds. Every time he switches channels, similar advertisements such as "TV membership, limited time ×× yuan for one year" will pop up automatically. , which made him very disgusted.
According to the "2021 Smart TV Switching Advertisement Research Report" released by the People's Daily Online Finance and Economics Research Institute, more than 89.9% of the respondents said that the smart TVs at home contain switch switch advertisements, and 86.09% of the manufacturers have not set up the "one-click switch switch advertisement". cancel or close button", and 72.73% of the respondents said that they "can't bear it for a second" for the boot advertisement.
It is worth noting that in 2020, the China Electronic Video Industry Association has formulated the group standard "Smart TV Start-up Advertising Service Specifications", which includes "The total duration of start-up advertisements should not exceed 30 seconds. Within seconds is appropriate".
The Advertising Law stipulates that the use of the Internet to publish and send advertisements must not affect the normal use of the Internet by users.
Advertisements posted on Internet pages in the form of pop-ups or other forms shall clearly indicate a closing sign to ensure that they can be closed with one click.
Although regulations have been in place for a long time, the reporter found in the investigation that violations of smart TV's switching on and off advertisements are still very common.
The advertising time of many smart TVs not only exceeds 30 seconds, but also does not provide a close sign in a prominent position, or even skip or close signs at all.
In addition to advertising issues, many interviewees said that the charging rules of smart TVs are a headache, "After spending money to buy a TV, you have to pay layer by layer."
Liang Jing from Suzhou, Anhui said in an interview that she now regrets buying a smart TV.
"At that time, the publicity was 4K ultra-high-definition picture quality and high-fidelity audio system. Owning it was equivalent to owning a home theater. Only after buying it did I find that membership is required for almost everything." The reporter saw the membership interface shown by Liang Jing. Smart TVs come with The annual membership package is 288 yuan, while the season package costs 148 yuan.
The TV membership does not include members of other programs. If you want to watch the children’s channel, you need to subscribe to the children’s channel membership. The first monthly subscription is 9.9 yuan, and the learning channel needs to open the 298 yuan annual card. Variety shows, education, sports, and other types of programs you want to watch Membership must be activated.
The reporter calculated and found that if all members of the smart TV itself are activated, the annual cost will exceed 1,000 yuan.
In addition, if you want to watch programs on TV through an online video platform, many contents need to be a member of the online video platform to watch normally, and this membership can only be used on the TV end, and does not communicate with the mobile end.
For example, the gold membership of a certain platform can be used on the three major platforms of mobile phones, tablets, and computers, and the annual card is 258 yuan, while the diamond membership is just an extra TV terminal, and the annual card is 448 yuan, which is nearly double the price.
"Just like nesting dolls, there are small members in the big membership, and there are special memberships when you buy a small membership. The rules for setting fees are to guide you to choose continuous monthly subscriptions or direct annual subscriptions, otherwise it is not worthwhile. What is even more annoying is that once After I opened a children's channel for my child for a month, the operator will automatically renew the subscription next month, without reminding me in advance." Liang Jing complained.
On February 1, the reporter came to Binjiang Road Commercial Street, Heping District, Tianjin, and consulted sales staff of several smart TV stores as consumers.
The reporter noticed that sales staff rarely mentioned the above topics if they didn’t take the initiative to ask questions such as whether there are startup advertisements, whether a membership is required to watch the program normally, whether there is a fee, and what the charging standard is.
Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Institute of the China Law Society, believes that smart TVs and Internet TVs are currently paid for viewing, and some consumers are willing to pay for watching their favorite TV programs.
However, merchants should give clear reminders about how many dramas a member can watch and the cost of membership activation before purchasing, so that consumers can choose the corresponding service according to their own needs when purchasing, otherwise it will be suspected of violating consumers' right to know.
At the same time, various impractical programs that require membership settings and payment settings with obvious "calculating" behaviors may be suspected of compulsory consumption.
Too many options to operate
very unfriendly to the elderly
Returning to his hometown during the Chinese New Year this year, Wang Xu from Zhenjiang, Jiangsu found that he could not even use the TV set at his grandfather’s house.
"There are three remote controls, one is for Internet TV, one is for cable TV, and the other is for cable TV set-top box. I tried for a long time to switch from Internet TV to cable TV but failed. Watching TV itself is for leisure. , how did the operation become so troublesome?" Wang Xu sighed.
Wang Xu said that unlike the previous cable TV, which can be watched when it is turned on, the operation of smart TV and Internet TV is similar to that of a mobile phone. There are various options on the screen. If you want to watch CCTV satellite TV, you need to switch the receiving channel.
"Although there are more programs that can be watched after the TV is connected to the Internet, the 'threshold' for watching TV is getting higher and higher. If you want to turn on the TV and watch the channel you want to watch, it is like breaking through a checkpoint. You have to click on countless options."
After interviewing many people in Beijing, Tianjin, Anhui, Jiangsu and other places, the reporter found that the vast majority of people who watch TV every day are middle-aged and elderly people. For middle-aged and elderly people, the operation of smart TVs is obviously too complicated.
Wang Xu's grandfather calls his grandson for help every time he turns on the TV, while the neighbor's children turn the TV on for their parents every morning before going to work.
There are still many inconveniences.
During the investigation, the reporter found that problems such as picture freezing, picture deformation, and equipment use occurred from time to time on Internet TV.
Li Ping from Xinxiang, Henan, told the reporter that if the cable TV members are directly connected to watch CCTV through Internet TV, it will take up the home broadband, and sometimes there will be freezes when watching the program.
And when consumers report to customer service, some customer service personnel don't care about it and don't really solve the problem.
The cable TV set-top box of Beijing citizen Li Fei’s smart TV had problems. To switch channels, he had to place the remote control within a meter or two of the set-top box and press it to respond. Changing the set-top box did not solve the problem.
The maintenance personnel said that it was a problem with the system itself. After several days of communication between the two parties, the maintenance personnel refused to repair it.
Multi-Party Collaborative Comprehensive Governance
Improve the user's TV perception
The reporter retrieved relevant information and found that the problems existing in smart TVs and Internet TVs, especially the advertising chaos in them, have existed since the popularization of digital TVs, and have been attracting attention for many years.
Why have these problems not been effectively resolved?
Du Leqi, chairman of the Economic Law Research Association of the Jiangsu Law Society and an associate professor at the Law School of Jiangsu University, believes that this is the result of a combination of various factors.
He said that, first of all, there is a mismatch between advertising legal norms and new types of advertising.
With the rapid development of the Internet and the digital economy, the advertising industry has also developed rapidly. Today, there are more diverse advertising methods, wider coverage, larger content carrying capacity, and faster changes, which intensifies the proliferation of advertising.
The embedding of digital or network platforms not only enriches the form of advertisements, but also enhances the concealment of advertisements, making it more difficult to identify advertisements using relevant laws and regulations.
Second, there are deficiencies in government regulatory policies and efforts.
In the process of law enforcement, the government regulatory department failed to truly crack down on and strengthen supervision.
In addition, the technical level of the regulatory authorities cannot match the market development momentum, and cannot prevent or discover problems in time.
"There is a phenomenon of lack of supervision in advertising industry organizations, social supervision organizations, and individual consumers. The self-discipline review mechanism of my country's advertising industry has not been able to form a complete, multi-level conscious self-discipline system. There is no full-time in my country. The self-discipline function of the self-regulatory organization and member associations has not yet been perfected. The realization of the self-regulatory function of advertising is mainly undertaken by advertising operators and advertising publishers, but driven by interests, it is difficult for individual enterprises as advertising operators and advertising publishers to do so. They are all fair and law-abiding. Due to the lack of sufficient incentives and their own weak capabilities, consumers play a small role in the specific supervision process." Du Leqi said.
Experts interviewed by the reporter believe that to solve the problems of smart TV, Internet TV advertising, high fees, and cumbersome operations, multi-party coordination is required.
According to Zhu Xiaojuan, an associate professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, director and deputy secretary-general of the Commercial Law Research Association of the China Law Society, the role of the market should be brought into play, and businesses and advertising operators should be encouraged to undertake social responsibilities while pursuing profits, and actively carry out the construction of an internal compliance governance system. , Consciously reduce or even eliminate some unreasonable and illegal phenomena.
Relevant laws and regulations such as the "Interim Measures for the Administration of Internet Advertising" need to strengthen targeted adjustments to illegal activities.
"In terms of legal liability, administrative responsibility is the mainstay and the amount of punishment is too low to play a deterrent effect. The amount of fines should be increased. At the same time, it is appropriate to increase the provisions of civil liability to comprehensively play the role of legal responsibility. In addition, administrative Insufficient management system and pre-regulatory forces, coupled with the constraints of the use of technology, affect the effectiveness of administrative supervision. Information sharing and administrative coordination mechanisms should be established to save the cost of transferring jurisdiction. Pre-spot checks and supervision should also be strengthened to force related The main body regulates behavior, and at the same time strengthens the application of technology, actively discovers illegal advertising activities and investigates them in a timely manner. It is also necessary to give play to the leading role of self-discipline of industry associations, urge industry associations to formulate industry norms, strengthen industry self-discipline, and promote the healthy development of the industry." Zhu Xiaojuan said.
According to Tang Wei, a lawyer from Beijing Yinghe Law Firm, for the elderly group, the complex membership system is not conducive to their understanding, and smart TV merchants should clearly remind and guide them.
For example, problems such as mobile phones, tablets, and TVs not being compatible are often prone to disputes. It is even more important to clearly indicate the scope and channels that can be watched after purchasing such memberships when charging to avoid disputes.
As it has become a consensus that "Most of the TV is watched by the elderly now", many interviewees hope to carry out aging-friendly transformation of smart TVs and Internet TVs.
Some people suggest that some TV series with positive energy and suitable for the elderly should be free to watch.
Some people think that radio and television and the three major operators can make their own IPTV set-top boxes into TV applications like other apps, and put them in the TV application store. Users who need them can download and install them directly. This can be the same as before. A remote control "Control" everything.
Zheng Ning, director of the Law Department of the School of Cultural Industry Management, Communication University of China, believes that with the advent of an aging society, there are more and more elderly viewers, and it is very necessary to adapt smart TVs to the elderly. Reduce the digital divide.
“For some movies and TV shows that contribute to the construction of a good family tradition and a clean culture, operators can consider broadcasting for public welfare, and the government can also adopt means such as subsidies, subsidies, and tax exemptions to encourage the broadcasting of such films for public welfare, so as to spread the core values of socialism .” Zheng Ning said.