DTH
Den-tastic rebound as profits climb despite dip in revenues
MUMBAI: Den Networks has dialled in a steady signal of profitability, even as top-line numbers took a slight dip. The cable and broadband player closed FY25 with a standalone net profit of Rs 1,173.96 million, despite a drop in annual revenue from operations to Rs 9,891.45 million, down from Rs 10,347.56 million in FY24. Total income for the year stood at Rs 12,279.77 million, marginally lower than the Rs 12,391.39 million earned in the previous fiscal.
Even with this modest revenue decline, Den managed to hold its ground thanks to tighter cost controls and robust income from other sources, which rose to Rs 2,388.32 million in FY25, up from Rs 2,043.83 million a year ago. Placement fees and employee benefit expenses remained largely consistent, while content costs dipped to Rs 5,794.60 million from Rs 6,012.47 million.
On the earnings front, profit before tax came in at Rs 1,588.47 million, and the company reported a basic and diluted earnings per share of Rs 2.46 for FY25, compared to Rs 3.68 in FY24. The total comprehensive income stood at Rs 1,178.83 million.
Den’s standalone balance sheet also reflected financial prudence, with total assets at Rs 42,496.64 million and equity capital of Rs 4,767.66 million. Cash and cash equivalents stood at Rs 106.11 million, a drop from Rs 171.73 million in FY24, reflecting increased capital expenditure and strategic investments.
On the consolidated front, Den clocked a net profit of Rs 1,967.30 million for FY25, supported by a total income of Rs 12,495.34 million and contributions from 24 subsidiaries and 5 associates. Profit attributable to the parent company’s shareholders was Rs 2,000.62 million. Its cable distribution segment remained the primary revenue driver, raking in Rs 9,780.35 million, while broadband contributed Rs 453.73 million.
Den also made headway in cost management across its subsidiaries. Depreciation and amortisation dropped year-on-year from Rs 1,128.10 million to Rs 1,057.65 million. Total liabilities declined to Rs 4,825.45 million from Rs 4,630.70 million, with the company maintaining a strong equity base of Rs 36,596.46 million, including Rs 400.81 million in non-controlling interest.
Cash from operating activities stood at Rs 183.00 million, down from Rs 836.28 million in FY24, largely due to higher outflows in tax and receivables. The company closed the year with cash reserves of Rs 159.23 million.
Auditors Chaturvedi & Shah issued an unmodified opinion on both standalone and consolidated financial statements, confirming the company’s clean financial health.
With a focus on digital transformation and regional expansion, Den seems poised to keep its broadband and cable businesses in sync with the shifting currents of India’s media landscape.
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.
