DTH
Panasonic, Comcast join forces to test interactive digital cable-ready television
MUMBAI: Consumer elctronics firm Panasonic and US cable major Comcast have announced that they will begin joint testing on an interactive digital cable-ready high-definition plasma television based on the Open Cable Application Platform (Ocap) specifications that cable operators in the US have begun to deploy.
The joint test, which will begin later this month, builds on the relationship Panasonic and Comcast announced at the ongoing 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show (Ces) in Las Vegas. The companies agreed to jointly develop digital cable set-top boxes and to explore and develop extensions to the Ocap specifications that will enhance and simplify consumers’ home entertainment experiences.
Integrating OCAP middleware into a digital cable-ready television will let consumers access digital cable features, such as video on demand and electronic programme guides, without a digital set-top box. It also will create new opportunities for the delivery of next generation, two-way interactive digital cable features like voting, e-commerce and gaming with the television.
Panasonic US CTO Dr. Paul Liao says, “This is a major step in the realisation of Ocap and we are very pleased to be partnering with Comcast, the leading cable operator in the US, to test this exciting product. Panasonic is a market leader in flat panel displays, and this is a logical step for us in terms of giving consumers access to an even wider range of high-definition
options.”
Comcast senior VP, technology and policy Mark Coblitz says, “We are pleased to expand our relationship with a leader like Panasonic to develop the next generation of digital cable-ready televisions. The development of Ocap-powered TVs is another example of how Comcast is working with the consumer electronics industry to enhance the consumer viewing experience by making it even easier to enjoy new interactive applications combined with the convenience of integrated digital cable services.”
Panasonic and Comcast expect testing of the new Ocap-powered TVs to run through 2007, and are targeting initial commercial availability of the first model for early 2008.
“The integration of Ocap technology into High-Definition Plasma televisions is the future of television. It opens the market for new and exciting interactive applications, including on-screen shopping, game play, voting, and many others that are only now being invented by software developers everywhere” adds Dr. Liao.
DTH
Prasar Bharati’s WAVES earns Rs 2.9 crore in first year
Platform scales content, users but monetisation gaps limit revenue growth.
MUMBAI: Big waves, small ripples at least for now. When Prasar Bharati launched its OTT platform WAVES at the 55th International Film Festival of India in November 2024, it pitched a bold vision: a homegrown rival to global and domestic streaming giants, blending video, audio, gaming and commerce into a single digital ecosystem. Five months into FY2024–25, however, the platform’s revenue stands at just Rs 2.90 crore, a figure that underscores the gap between ambition and monetisation.
On paper, WAVES looks anything but modest. The platform has ingested 13,608 titles, totalling 9,495 hours of content, with over 13,000 titles already live. It has streamed more than 575 live events from the Mahakumbh Amrit Snan and the 76th Republic Day parade to the Hockey India League, Kabaddi World Cup and Mann Ki Baat while offering 74 live TV channels and 12 radio channels. With over 10 lakh registered users and more than 200 content partners onboarded, the scale resembles that of a fully operational streaming service rather than a pilot project.
The architecture supporting this scale is equally robust. Built under Prasar Bharati’s Central Archives vertical, WAVES runs on a cloud-based infrastructure with DRM, encryption and an integrated analytics dashboard. It includes dedicated units for content ingestion, quality control, publishing, graphics, marketing and billing, and is distributed across platforms such as OTTplay, Tata Play and BSNL. The offering extends beyond video to include audio-on-demand, e-games and even e-commerce via ONDC integration.
Yet, the numbers reveal a core disconnect. Despite its scale, WAVES generated just Rs 2.90 crore in a market where India’s OTT industry crossed Rs 23,000 crore in 2024. A key bottleneck lies in monetisation infrastructure: subscriptions cannot currently be purchased within the app and must be completed via an external website. In a mobile-first country where over 95 per cent of OTT consumption happens on smartphones, this extra step creates friction that most users are unlikely to overcome.
Ironically, content is not the problem, it is the platform’s biggest strength. Prasar Bharati holds one of the world’s richest broadcast archives, including 45,154 hours of digitised Akashvani programming and 35,723 hours from Doordarshan. For WAVES alone, over 3,800 hours of archival content have been made OTT-ready, including classics such as Ramayan and Shaktimaan, alongside rare cultural recordings and historical broadcasts.
There are early signs that this library holds commercial potential. Revenue from archival content licensing rose sharply to Rs 3.38 crore in FY24, up from Rs 67 lakh the previous year. Meanwhile, free digital platforms continue to drive massive reach, the PB Archives Youtube channel clocked 119.78 million views and added 4,02,000 subscribers in FY2024–25, crossing 1.7 million in total, while DD News has over 5.84 million subscribers.
That, however, presents a strategic dilemma. While free distribution builds scale, it also conditions audiences to expect content at zero cost making it harder to transition to paid models. WAVES, designed as a hybrid AVOD-SVOD platform with advertising and subscription layers, is yet to fully crack this balance.
The broader challenge is not technological but strategic. In an ecosystem dominated by platforms offering seamless payments, aggressive pricing and high-budget originals, WAVES is still bridging the gap between being a content repository and a commercially viable product.
For now, the platform reflects both promise and paradox. It has the scale, the content and the infrastructure but until monetisation catches up, WAVES remains less a revenue engine and more a digital showcase of what India’s public broadcaster could become.
