DTH
Dish TV goes mobile, Zee dons new look
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NEW DELHI: It’s action time at the Subhash Chandra-controlled Zee Telefilms. The network not only has gone in for a complete makeover, including logos, but has also introduced the concept of mobile DTH service through its 20 per cent owned service, Dish TV. |
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A similar experiment is being tried out by Indian pubcaster Doordarshan through mobile digital terrestrial transmission (DTT) in Chennai. |
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With a consumer base of over 200,000, as claimed by Dish TV, the DTH service provider is pushing aggressively to press home some early advantage as it becomes imminent that Space TV, a joint venture between the Tatas and Star, would get a nod for a DTH service sooner or later.  Now for the news of the makeover. After almost 13 years of existence, Zee Network has decided to sport a new look, which also includes renaming of the three English channels. So, from 27 march midnight Zee English is Zee Café, ZMZ is Zee Studios and MX is Zee Select. Comedy channel Smile TV is now Zee Smile and Trendz is Zee Trendz. All channels under the Alpha brand will be now under Zee brand. The channels’ new, crisp and contemporary logos are part of a game plan to get a new image. In addition, Zee TV will have brand new on-air packaging and promotions as well. |
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According to a statement from Zee, the regional Alpha channels will be called Zee Marathi, Zee Bangla, Zee Gujarati, Zee Punjabi and Zee Telugu. The re-branding exercise is being undertaken in a phased manner. Initially, the old and the new logos will be displayed together on the TV screens for the convenience of viewers. Gradually, the old logos will be phased out. The statement quoted Zee Telefilms CEO Pradeep Guha as saying, “This re-branding exercise is the first step in weaving a thread of common identity between our many diverse brands. And, while each brand is a distinct entity of its own, now it is also an unmistakable member of the Zee family. Also, the re-branding is aimed at adding the extra zing and edge, which reinvents the spirit of the brand and brings it closer to our younger audience cohorts.” Zee Telefilms, launched in October 1992, reaches more than 120 countries and has access to more than 500 million viewers globally. Zee Network has created strong brand equity for itself over the past years and is currently the largest media franchise serving the South Asian diaspora. |
India’s first Direct-to-Home (DTH) service late last week unveiled a dish that can be installed on moving vehicles for TV viewing on the move. This is aimed at tapping long-distance bus and tour operators in the country.
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.
