DTH
Tata Sky Binge strengthens OTT play with the addition of VOOT Select and VOOT Kids
KOLKATA: Strengthening its content catalogue to meet the growing entertainment requirements across age groups, Tata Sky Binge – Tata Sky’s OTT aggregator service has now partnered with Viacom18 Digital Ventures to bring onboard their premium content streaming service VOOT Select, and kids-focused VOOT Kids for its growing subscriber base.
This partnership will add India’s top TV shows from Viacom18 and Voot Originals, along with the most-loved cartoon characters from Indian and International shows, to Tata Sky Binge. Bringing the benefits of catch-up and premium OTT content on television, Tata Sky Binge already offers a host of entertainment options from India’s top OTT platforms, such as Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar Premium, ZEE5, SunNxt, Hungama Play, Eros Now and ShemarooMe.
The addition of VOOT Select and VOOT Kids to the existing vast offering of content on Tata Sky Binge will enable Binge users to access path breaking originals, exclusive international content, cult blockbuster movies in multiple languages and a versatile collection of thousands of videos, e-books, quizzes and audio stories for children with an aim to aid holistic development of their mental, emotional and social faculties.. The partnership will reconceptualize the way content is consumed on television in the age of connected devices and will help cater to a wide set of underserved audiences, giving a fillip to consumer satisfaction quotient.
Commenting on the partnership, Tata Sky chief commercial officer and content officer Pallavi Puri said, “Keeping customer requirements at the forefront, we have continued to expand the library for Tata Sky Binge with OTT apps that offer the most popular and relatable content for the entire family. In the current environment when children are facing a dearth of entertainment options, adding VOOT Kids will enhance the entertainment experience for kids with a balanced library of fun and learning content. Further, with Voot Select, we will open the doors to Viacom18’s exciting library of movies and top Indian TV shows – all available 24 hours before TV.”
Commenting on the partnership, Viacom18 Digital Ventures COO Gourav Rakshit said, “At VOOT, we believe in building a versatile and immersive digital ecosystem that will add value to our users with path-breaking and diverse content experiences. With an increase in demand for content consumption, be it entertainment through VOOT Select or fun learning through VOOT Kids, this promising collaboration with Tata Sky Binge will help us cater and reach out to a larger audience base. We are delighted to partner with a like-minded brand who resonates with our ideologies and will help us make content viewing an enriching and engaging experience for all our viewers.”
With VOOT Select, Tata Sky Binge users can access host of exciting content, including many Voot Originals like Asur, Marzi, Raiker Case, Illegal, etc. Blockbuster movies and on demand content of popular shows from Colors (Hindi), MTV, Nickelodeon, Colors Kannada, Colors Marathi, Colors Bangla, Colors Super and Colors Gujarati will also be featured on the platform. Added to the list are renowned international shows, such as Shark Tank S11, Why Women Kill, The Good Wife, The Affair and The Twilight Zone among others.
At a time when kids are compelled to stay indoors and there has been an increased demand for content to keep them safely engaged at home, the partnership with VOOT Kids – India’s only app for kids that provides an amalgamation of learning and entertainment content – will provide the perfect destination for kids on Tata Sky Binge. It offers thousands of hours of popular Indian and international shows, with 200+ cartoons – including favourites like Pokemon, Peppa Pig, Paw Patrol, Motu Patlu, Dora the Explorer, Ben 10 and Avatar – 150+ audio stories, 500+ eBooks and 5000+ educational quizzes.
Tata Sky subscribers can access the library of premium OTT apps on Tata Sky Binge via the Amazon Fire TV Stick – Tata Sky Edition for just Rs. 299/-per month. New and existing Tata Sky customers can avail a Tata Sky Binge+ connection at an offer price of Rs. 3999/- which includes 6 months subscription to the Tata Sky Binge platform. Tata Sky Binge customers on the FireTV stick or the Android Box also get access to last seven days of missed shows (based on linear entitlement) and three months of Amazon Prime subscription at no extra cost.
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.
